


Predator

by navywife97



Category: The Rookie (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, College, Drama & Romance, F/M, Male-Female Friendship, Mystery, Sex, True Love, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:14:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26399266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navywife97/pseuds/navywife97
Summary: Cheyenne Bradford has come a long way since first arriving in L.A. She’s now a star college athlete, with a ton of friends, and has found a loving family with Officer Tim Bradford and his soon to be wife, Officer Lucy Chen. But Cheyenne’s newfound happiness is threatened when she’s attacked on campus by a sexual predator. When Cheyenne names her attacker, Tim, Lucy and Grayson are shocked as to who it is. They are forced to launch an undercover operation to catch the predator...before he strikes again.
Relationships: Tim Bradford & Lucy Chen
Comments: 24
Kudos: 11





	1. Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheyenne is attacked on her college campus by a sexual predator. When he shows up at her dorm room after the attack, Cheyenne runs to one of the few people she trusts.

Cheyenne was huddled in the corner of her bed in her dorm room...the shakes had almost gone away completely, and she’d stopped crying a while ago. Her right eye was swollen and sore, but that wasn’t the only thing that hurt. Her right cheek hurt from where he’d backhanded her...her ribs hurt from where he’d kicked her, her knuckles were sore from where she’d gotten in a few good blows to his now not so pretty face. And her thighs...her thighs hurt from where he’d gripped them so hard trying to force them open. She glanced down to her thighs and saw the bruises forming. She hurt from head to toe...but, she had won the fight. Her dad and Lucy and Grayson had taught her never to start a fight, but if she was ever in one, she better damn well be able to finish it. Grayson in particular had taught her to defend herself and stand up for herself, and others; and she had done that. But she was afraid it had cost her everything that she had found and had built for herself here in L.A. She sat up and moaned in pain...and felt her locket that contained the picture of her and her mother swing from her neck. She clutched it and closed her eyes. “I miss you mama. I’m so scared, I don’t know what to do. I wish you were here mama.” She opened her eyes as she opened the locket and stared at the picture of her and her mother. She closed her eyes again, and winced as it hurt every time she took a breath. 

She thought of calling her dad or Lucy, but she was scared to. She knew her dad; while he was the best man she’d ever known, he could be hotheaded and a loose cannon at times, and she was afraid he’d go ballistic and do something stupid that would get him in trouble. She couldn’t call her grandparents either...they were out of town visiting some friends. Cheyenne wasn’t sure what she was going to do when she heard a knock at her door. She frowned and slowly got out of bed, wincing as she did so. Thankfully her roommate was out with her study group, so Cheyenne didn’t have to make excuses for her haphazard appearance. Cheyenne looked down at herself and grimaced. Her practice uniform was torn in several places, and there was blood on it in several places. Her legs were red and bruised, and she had dirt and mud on them from when she had tripped and basically rolled down a hill on campus as she escaped from her attacker. She sighed as she padded softly across her dorm room to the door and looked through the peephole. Cheyenne barely controlled her gasp. Oh God no…it was HIM. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She knew what would happen if she let him in. She had barely escaped last time. Cheyenne quietly stepped away from the door. She knew what she had to do...she’d done it before. She had to run. She had to get away. Cheyenne quickly put her shoes back on, and yanked on a hoodie. The knock came again, more forcefully this time, when she heard a key turning in the lock. Cheyenne gasped….go, go, go! Cheyenne ran to the window in her dorm room and opened it and climbed out of it. She thankfully lived on the first floor of the dorm, so it wasn’t a far drop at all to the ground. She glared up at the angry, night sky as she felt the first fat rain drops hit her face. Cheyenne ran as fast as she could across campus, never looking back. Her wallet was still in the pocket of her hoodie, thankfully. She ran and ran and ran, blocking out the pain, until she had left the campus, never once glancing back. She ran until she got to a gas station. There was only one place she could think of to run and hide. She asked the attendant that was working the night shift if he could call an Uber ride for her. He agreed to, as Cheyenne kept glancing uneasily out the window. Fifteen minutes later, the Uber ride picked Cheyenne up, and she headed for Grayson’s house. She pulled her wallet out and glanced inside it, grimacing when she saw she had no cash inside. She did however have a 100 dollar gift card leftover from her birthday a few months ago to a grocery store. She’d just have to hope that would be enough for a payment for the Uber driver. Cheyenne leaned her head against the window and tried to shut out the sounds and images that kept coming back to her. She focused on the soothing sounds of the rain drops that patted against the car. She hoped Grayson was home. 

Grayson had surprised everyone in his quick recovery from the explosion a couple of months ago, and had returned to full duty much earlier than anticipated. It had helped him tremendously to get back to his routine, and back to patrol. Lucy claimed he was in better shape than before the explosion, much to his amusement. They had pulled some major overtime tonight when they’d been working a horrible accident scene involving a charter bus and a tractor trailer. Some calls stick with you, and he knew this would be one of them. It was close to midnight by the time Grayson pulled into his driveway. He closed his eyes and sighed as he turned off the engine and headlights. The unusual rainstorm that was blanketing Los Angeles was irritating, yet soothing. Now that he wasn’t out working in it, he was looking forward to falling asleep to the sounds of the steady rain, and the wind that had picked up. He opened his eyes, and started to open his car door, when he froze. What the hell? If he wasn’t mistaken, that was Cheyenne, hunched over in a hoodie and her volleyball uniform...and not much else, sitting by his front door, soaked from head to toe. Why was she sitting outside in the rain? He glanced around and looked for her car, but didn’t see it. A feeling of dread hit him in the gut, and he quickly got out of his car. Something was obviously very wrong. The rain was picking up, as Grayson quickly approached Cheyenne. “Cheyenne? Are you ok? What happened? Where’s your car?” Cheyenne had been hunched over, and slowly, hesitantly looked up at him. Grayson’s heart broke as he saw the terrified, broken, wounded look on Cheyenne’s face...and then he felt the anger flood into him as he noticed she was injured. She had obviously taken a pretty good beating. He crouched down in front of her and tried to look at her as she avoided his gaze. “Cheyenne! Honey, who the hell did this to you? Are you ok?” Cheyenne let out a sob, as Grayson pulled her into his arms. She was shaking like a leaf, and obviously terrified. He glanced up as the rain and wind were picking up even more now. He gently pulled her to her feet. “C’mon, kid, let’s get you inside.” He quickly unlocked his front door and all but shoved Cheyenne inside, before quickly following her. He slammed the door shut and locked it.

Cheyenne had limped over to the couch and had fallen on it, and curled into a ball and was visibly shaking...partly from being chilled and partly from fear. Grayson stood in his drenched uniform, with his hands on his hips, frowning at her. Something horrible had obviously happened to her. He glanced towards his kitchen then, and heard Sheeba whining. He walked into his kitchen and opened the pet gate, and Sheeba happily greeted him. “C’mon girl, let’s go take care of Chey.” Sheeba ran into the living room and jumped on the couch. She halfway landed on Cheyenne, who groaned in pain. Grayson frowned at both of them. “Sheeba, off!” Sheeba looked at him and got off the couch, but stuck close to Cheyenne. She was sniffing Cheyenne, and whined and licked her. Sheeba could tell something was wrong. Grayson grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over Cheyenne. “You get warm, kid. I’m going to get out of this soaking wet uniform. I’ll be right back.” Cheyenne latched onto the blanket, and huddled underneath it. Grayson stalked into his bedroom, and shut the door. He unholstered his weapon and out it on his nightstand. Then he took off his utility belt, and plunked it down on the dresser. Then he stripped out of his uniform and his bulletproof vest and tossed them both in a chair by the bed. He quickly threw on an LAPD tee shirt and sweat pants and a pair of socks. He took a couple of breaths, trying to steady himself. Something bad had happened to Cheyenne tonight, and he knew he had to calm down, or he’d only make whatever it was worse. He opened the door, and walked to the couch, and stood over her. “You want something warm to drink?” Cheyenne didn’t utter a sound, just shook her head no. Grayson sighed as he sat down on the couch, and tried to talk to Cheyenne. “Ok...tell me everything, from the beginning. Are you hurt? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Cheyenne didn’t respond, and Grayson sighed. “Cheyenne...tell me what the hell happened. Have you called your mumsy and dad?” Cheyenne shook her head no, but still didn’t say anything, frustrating Grayson. He sighed as he scooted closer to her. “Cheyenne...talk to me, please.” A small sob escaped Cheyenne, who was still buried under her hoodie and the blanket. Her voice came out, barely above a whisper. “I can’t tell you, Grayson.” Grayson frowned at that. “What do you mean you can’t tell me? Cheyenne, that’s bullshit. We’ve always been able to talk to each other. You can tell me anything, you know that. You know you can trust me.” But Cheyenne turned her head away from him, causing Grayson to frown. 

He sighed as he gently removed the hood of her hoodie, and turned her face towards him, and she had her eyes tightly shut. He felt the fury boiling up in his veins again as he saw the mess that was Cheyenne’s face. Her bottom lip was swollen, she was sporting a pretty decent shiner on her right eye, she had bruises on her right cheek, and it was then that Grayson glanced down and saw the bruises on her knuckles and the bruises on her thighs. Dread filled him as he placed his hand on Cheyenne’s back and gently rubbed it up and down. “Cheyenne...what the hell happened to you tonight?” She opened her eyes then, and the look of shame that Grayson saw in her eyes broke his heart. Another small sob escaped her, as Grayson pulled her into his arms. “Angel, who the hell did this to you? You have to tell me. I’ll take care of it, I promise. But I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.” Cheyenne shook her head as Grayson rocked her. Grayson sighed as he held her, and wondered what the hell had happened to her, and why. 

For the first time in hours, Cheyenne felt safe, and warm. She knew she had to tell Grayson what had happened to her. But she knew the minute she did, it would set a chain of events in motion. And she wasn’t ready to face all of that. Cheyenne clung to Grayson as if she were drowning. Then suddenly she felt the anger flood through her, and shoved him away and jumped up from his arms, stalking into the kitchen, ignoring the pain that shot through her. Grayson frowned at her as he watched her. Cheyenne grabbed a coffee mug she saw on the counter and hurled it against the wall, letting out a scream as it shattered. Grayson’s eyes went wide with shock, before he rushed to her, and spun her around, pinning her arms to her side. “Hey! Don’t start taking it out on my house, please. You’ll just hurt yourself even more.” Cheyenne glared at him. “It’s not fair, damnit! It’s not fair!” She tried to shove Grayson off, and they briefly got in a wrestling match as he tried to calm her down. “Cheyenne...stop. Stop it!” Cheyenne pounded on Grayson’s chest with her fists, which hurt more than he thought it would, given how strong she was. But he let her do it...because better she pound on him than than the wall, and possibly break her hand. “It’s not fair Grayson! It’s not fair! Everything was going great! Why did he have to ruin it all? Why?” Cheyenne was roaring at the top of her lungs...when suddenly the fight melted out of her as suddenly as it had hit her, and she crumpled to the floor, carrying Grayson with her. She was sobbing again, as Grayson just held her, feeling totally helpless. He figured he’d just let the storm that was raging within her pass before he tried to get any answers out of her. But he was damn well going to get those answers, no matter how long it took. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket, and called into work. He took a personal day, realizing that whatever was going on, he’d need the time to straighten it out. Now that that was settled, he concentrated on Cheyenne’s injuries. Given the location of her bruises, he figured he probably knew what had happened to her, and the rage boiled up again. Someone had tried to rape her, most likely, he just hoped to God they hadn’t succeeded. He sat there, in the middle of his kitchen floor, holding Cheyenne, as she sobbed in his arms. Sheeba came to join them, and as a storm raged outside, another storm raged inside of Grayson, as he was pretty sure he knew what Cheyenne had faced earlier that evening. He glanced down at her and realized she had drifted off to sleep, probably worn out from the fight she was obviously in earlier. He sighed as he leaned his head back against the kitchen cabinet, and wondered what the hell he was supposed to do. Exhaustion claimed him, and after a few minutes, he fell asleep sitting up, with Cheyenne asleep in his lap.


	2. TLC

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grayson gives Cheyenne some much needed TLC as he slowly coaxes the story out of her of what happened. Grayson is furious when he learns the identity of her attacker, and he finally convinces Cheyenne to let him take her to the hospital. Grayson calls Tim and Lucy and tells them most, but not all, of the story, and they meet him and Cheyenne at the hospital. Lucy gives Tim some TLC when they arrive at the hospital, hoping to calm him down before they meet up with Cheyenne and Grayson.

Cheyenne slowly opened her eyes, momentarily forgetting where she was. Then it all came rushing back, and she remembered. She closed her eyes, and groaned. She ached everywhere, much worse than before, but she was warm...oh so warm. She glanced up to see Grayson patiently watching her as he gently stroked her hair. Then she glanced down and saw Sheeba was snoozing away with her head in Cheyenne’s lap. Cheyenne let out a small, sad smile as she gently rubbed Sheeba’s ear. Grayson yawned as Cheyenne slowly, painfully sat up. He looked at her intently. “Better?” Cheyenne sighed as she glanced around, clearly embarrassed. “No, not really...worse actually. Everything hurts.” Grayson nodded as he adjusted his grip on her. She scooted to his side as she leaned her head into his shoulder, and he gently rubbed her arm up and down. They were still on the floor, leaning against a cabinet. Grayson had his eyes closed. Cheyenne yawned and closed her eyes, trying to block out the flashbacks. “What time is it?” Grayson tried a really lame joke...but it seemed to work. “Time for you to get a watch.” Cheyenne snickered at that, which made Grayson feel better. He opened his eyes then and turned to look at her. “It’s after 2 in the morning.” Cheyenne groaned again. “No wonder I’m sleepy.” Grayson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, you aren’t the only one...some of us had to pull a double shift and a half tonight. So, in light of that, are you ready to tell me what the hell is going on? And why you showed up here, without your car, and why you were sitting in the middle of the freaking rain?” Grayson had tried to be teasing with Cheyenne, since that’s how they usually rolled, but Cheyenne apparently was not in the mood. She glared at him and shoved away from him, and stood up, storming out of the kitchen. 

Grayson sighed as he stood up. Cheyenne was marching to the front door, as Grayson rushed after her. “Oh no you don’t.” Cheyenne shoved him away as she reached for the front door. “I’m leaving, I don’t need your bullshit right now!” Grayson struggled to hold onto his temper as Cheyenne jerked out of his grasp and unlocked the front door and jerked it open. Grayson slammed it shut again, and locked it. Cheyenne turned to glare at him, and he glared right back at her. She looked away, trying to hold back the tears, as Grayson closed his eyes. “Damnit...look, Chey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I don’t want you to go...especially now, the weather sucks.” Cheyenne frowned at him then, causing her to wince and groan in pain as she did so. Her face hurt like hell, and her ribs hurt even worse. Grayson’s expression softened as he saw Cheyenne trying to hide the pain, and he sighed. Against his better judgment, he reached out and gently caressed her injured cheek. “You need an ice pack, and some ibuprofin. And then you are going to tell me exactly what’s going on...I mean it, Cheyenne.” Cheyenne slowly nodded...and Grayson could tell she was terrified again...but there was something else in her eyes, something he refused to put a label on. He dropped his hand from her cheek and went into the kitchen, as Cheyenne followed him. Sheeba was still snoozing away where they’d left her, making Cheyenne smile slightly.

Grayson went to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen peas, as Cheyenne sat down at his small kitchen table. He handed her the bag of frozen peas and to his surprise, Cheyenne took it and put it directly on the side of her face, making Grayson wince. “I can get you a towel for that.” Cheyenne rolled her left eye, as her right one was now swollen shut. “Don’t be a wuss. I take ice baths before and after every practice and game...this is nothing.” Grayson smirked at her as he went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water. He twisted off the cap and handed it to her. Then he went to the medicine cabinet and got out a big bottle of ibuprofin. He brought the bottle to her and opened it, shaking four tablets into her hand. Cheyenne put the tablets into her mouth, and washed them down with some water. Grayson put the ibuprofin back in the medicine cabinet, as he went back to the fridge, pulling out a beer for himself. He opened it, taking a swig from it, as he joined Cheyenne at the table. “Ok, kid...start talking.” Cheyenne started talking, and Grayson carefully sipped his beer, trying to control his rage as Cheyenne’s story spilled out of her. When Cheyenne finally named her attacker, Grayson shook his head as he angrily looked away from her. "So you're telling me that your head coach, Coach Faulkner, is the one who attacked you?" Cheyenne tearfully nodded. Her voice came out a whisper. "Yeah...it was him...Coach Faulkner." Grayson slammed his fist down on his breakfast table, making Cheyenne jump. “That son of a bitch!” He took a deep breath, and shoved his anger back down as he glanced back at Cheyenne, who was wiping tears from her eyes. 

Grayson sighed as Cheyenne finished her story, and gently rubbed her up and down on her back, trying to soothe. “Damn. I’m so damn sorry Chey...that fucking prick.” Cheyenne looked away uneasily, as Grayson reached for her hand. “It’s ok, Chey...you didn’t do anything wrong. This is not your fault.” She nodded as she squeezed his hand, but she couldn’t hide the wince as she sipped her water. Grayson sighed as he scooted his chair closer to her. “Chey...I really think we need to take you to the hospital. And we need to call your mumsy and dad...speaking of that. Why did you come here? Why not just go home?” Cheyenne sighed, as she looked at him. After everything he’d done for her, she owed him the absolute truth. “Two reasons.” Grayson looked at her and waited for her to continue. “1. You know as well as I do that dad can get a little crazy sometimes...especially where mumsy or I are concerned. I didn’t want him showing up at the campus ready to start World War 3.” Grayson couldn’t help but smile at that description of Tim...because it was very accurate. “Ok...that’s fair. What’s the second reason?” Cheyenne sighed as she looked at him, and Grayson swore she blushed, a tiny bit. “So...I was in my dorm room, after he attacked me, after I got away from him.” Cheyenne’s voice trembled, and Grayson squeezed her hand encouragingly. “You can tell me, Chey...it’s ok.” Cheyenne nodded and blinked back the tears. “He came to my dorm room...and started knocking. I knew it was him, and I didn’t let him in. I didn’t make a sound, I was hoping he’d just go away.” She took a sip of water and continued. “Next thing I know, he’s sliding a key into the lock of my dorm room...I didn’t even know he had a key to my dorm room. I knew I had to get out of there, so, I climbed out the window, and ran. I ran to a gas station that’s close to campus, and had the guy working the night shift call an Uber ride for me. The Uber guy brought me here.” Grayson frowned, processing all of those details, and realized Cheyenne hadn’t totally answered his question. “Why did you come here, Chey?” Cheyenne looked away from him, before looking back at him. “I tried to think of the last time I felt safe...besides with dad and mumsy...and I saw your face. So I came here.” Grayson couldn’t help but gently smile at that.

Cheyenne abruptly stood up, and guzzled her water, and set the empty bottle on the counter next to the sink. Grayson stood up and walked to her and gently turned her around. He looked at her before he pulled her into a hard hug. “You are safe here, Chey. Don’t ever doubt that.” He felt her nod her head, and heard her sniffle. He held her and rubbed her back gently up and down as he felt her trembling start to get worse again. He sighed as he held her. “Ok...so here’s the plan. I’m taking you to the hospital, and yes, we are going to call your dad and mumsy.” Cheyenne started to pull away and protest but Grayson held her firmly in his arms. “No buts on this, Chey. They need to know. And then, your dad and I are going to your school and pay your fucking Coach a visit.” Cheyenne jerked out of his arms then. “No! Grayson I don’t want either of you going to the school! I don’t want anyone to know! And you know dad...he’ll do more than just pay him a visit, I don’t want dad to get in trouble!” Grayson rolled his eyes. “This isn’t open for discussion Chey...we have to take care of his. If he’s done this to you, he’s probably done it to others. I can keep your dad in line, trust me.” Grayson saw the terrified look come over Cheyenne’s face and frowned at her. “What? Cheyenne...what aren’t you telling me?” Cheyenne frantically shook her head as Grayson cradled her face in his hands. “Chey...remember what I told you. You’re safe here. No one is going to hurt you, I won’t let them. Now tell me.” Cheyenne fearfully looked at him, and his heart broke again. “I know he’s done this to others.” Grayson frowned at her. “How do you know?” Cheyenne sobbed, and her head fell forward into Grayson’s chest, as he wrapped his arms around her. Cheyenne forced the words out of her. “Because...when...when he was on top of me, and I was fighting him, he said he thought I was different but I wasn’t, I was just like the others.” Grayson closed his eyes as he tightened his grip on Cheyenne. Damn...that mother fucker. Grayson knew he had to ask her, and he hoped she would be honest with him. It hurt him to ask his next question as much as it hurt Cheyenne to hear the words. He eased her back and cradled her face in his hands again. “Chey...I have to ask you something, and you have to be honest with me. I promise, I won’t tell anyone, no matter what your answer is, but you have to be honest with me about this, Ok? Can you do that?” Cheyenne tearfully nodded as Grayson sighed. “Did he rape you?” Grayson held his breath as he waited for her answer. He saw the fight flood back into Cheyenne’s eyes, which made his heart soar. “No...he tried to. But I fought him, Grayson. I fought him as hard as I could, just like you and dad and mumsy taught me. I fought back…I fought back...” Grayson felt relief flood into him as he none to gently yanked Cheyenne back into his arms as she sobbed into his chest again, with her arms folded in front of her laying against him. “That’s my girl. I’m proud of you.” He examined her hands then and saw her bruised and battered knuckles. “Got in a few punches did you?” Cheyenne nodded as Grayson smiled encouragingly at her. “Way to kick his ass.” Cheyenne laughed then, but her laugh turned to crying as Grayson pulled her back into her arms and held her as the sobs wracked her body. Grayson’s relief was short lived as he now realized the next task he had to face. He had to tell Tim and Lucy what had happened, and that was going to be no easy task. He kissed Cheyenne’s forehead as he eased her away from him. “Ok...I know it’s really late, but we’re going to the hospital. And we’re calling your mumsy and dad on the way. I’ll call them if you want me to.” Cheyenne gratefully nodded as Grayson led her out of the kitchen. He went into his bedroom and yanked out a pair of sweats that Ruthie had left at his house from when they were dating. “Here...put these on. It’s chilly out, and your practice uniform doesn’t really leave much to the imagination.” Cheyenne smiled gratefully at him...Grayson was always trying to protect her, in some form or fashion. Grayson sighed as Cheyenne went into the bathroom to put on the sweatpants. He fished out his cell phone from his pocket and called Lucy. 

Tim was frowning as he parked his truck in the parking garage of Cedars-Sinai. “I still don’t understand why the hell she went to Wells instead of coming home.” He had practically roared it at the top of his lungs as Lucy rolled her eyes and jerked his arm. “This...this is exactly why. Chey knows if she had come home, you’d have rushed to that campus like a madman and unleashed all hell on anyone you saw.” Tim glared at Lucy then. “I know how to control myself, Boot.” Lucy smirked at him. “Well, you’re sucking at it right now, Bradford.” Tim rolled his eyes as Lucy grasped his hand. “Babe...you have to calm down. Chey doesn’t need this attitude of yours right now. She’s terrified enough as it is. I know you’re angry, I am too. But you have to put that aside right now, Chey needs us to be calm and cool.” Tim sighed as he took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “I know, I know…” Lucy leaned over and kissed is cheek. “Just be thankful she went to Grayson...the old Cheyenne would have taken off and run away. We might have lost her. Be thankful she has someone she trusted enough to go to with this instead of trying to handle it on her own or running away. And be thankful Grayson loves her like a sister...he’d do anything for her, you know that.” Tim did know that...but he wasn’t so sure anymore that Grayson saw Cheyenne like a sister. Regardless, he was thankful that because of Grayson, Cheyenne was safe tonight, and getting the medical attention she apparently needed. He looked at Lucy then, a pained expression on his face. “Luce...I have to know, before we go in there. Did Cheyenne tell Grayson if… if…” Tim closed his eyes and couldn’t finish the thought. Lucy pulled him into a hug. “According to Grayson, no, she wasn’t raped. The guy did try, but apparently Cheyenne fought him off...just like we taught her.” Tim felt tears come to his eyes at that, and hugged Lucy hard. “That’s our girl, Luce…” Lucy nodded tearfully, so thankful that Cheyenne had been able to fight her attacker off long enough to escape before it had a chance to get so much worse. She and Tim got out of his truck, and walked together, hand in hand, through the parking garage, and through the hospital entrance.


	3. I Got Your Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Lucy meet Cheyenne and Grayson at the hospital, and Tim realizes how fiercely protective of Cheyenne that Grayson is...and Lucy does too. Grayson tells Lucy the details he was able to get out of Cheyenne about her attack.

Grayson was sitting by Cheyenne’s hospital bed, thumb wrestling her. He had won 4 in a row...nope, make that 5. Cheyenne rolled her left eye as Grayson smirked at her. “That’s five in a row, Bradford...I thought you were this big star college athlete, and yet you can’t even beat me at thumb wrestling?” Cheyenne rolled her eyes and held up her hand again, as Grayson raised his eyebrow at her. She shrugged her shoulders. “Hey...dream big or go home, right?” Grayson grabbed her hand again, as he smirked at her. “You must go home a lot then.” He then beat her at thumb wrestling for the 6th time in a row.

Lucy burst out laughing at that as Grayson and Cheyenne glanced at the doorway. Tim and Lucy had been standing there, watching them. Cheyenne’s smile fell from her face as she looked guiltily away, before looking back at Tim and Lucy. She had a death grip on Grayson’s hand, and he gently squeezed hers in return, never letting go of her. Cheyenne started crying as she looked at her parents. “I’m sorry...I’m sorry I didn’t call you…” Lucy rushed to her and wrapped Cheyenne in her arms. “No, no, no baby, it’s ok. We’re not mad at you sweetie. You went to a trusted adult when you found yourself in a bad situation, and that’s exactly the right thing to do.” Lucy hugged her hard as Tim slowly walked up to them. Cheyenne pulled away from Lucy as she studied Tim’s expression. “I’m sorry dad.” Lucy moved aside so Tim could be by Cheyenne. He sat on the edge of her bed and gently pulled her into his arms and closed his eyes. “I’m not mad at you sweetheart. I’m just so glad you’re not hurt any worse.” Tim fought back the tears and the rage as he gently hugged and rocked Cheyenne. Cheyenne hugged him back as she began to cry into his shoulder.

Lucy went to Grayson as Grayson stood up. She pulled Grayson into a hard hug. “Thank you so much Gray. Thanks for being there for her.” He hugged Lucy and nodded at her. He whispered into her ear so Tim couldn’t overhear...he figured Tim needed time to process everything more so than Lucy did. “Outside, now.” Lucy squeezed him, telling him she understood. She broke away from Grayson and looked at Tim who was still holding Cheyenne. “Grayson and I are going to get sodas...he’s not been to sleep yet and is almost dead on his feet from the overtime. We’ll be right back, ok?” Tim caught the look in Lucy’s eyes, but didn’t say anything. He figured he needed time to calm down before he got worked up again.

Grayson and Lucy stepped outside of the small room and into the hallway. Grayson looked at Lucy grimly. “So...I made them run a rape kit.” Lucy closed her eyes and grabbed his hand. “Oh, God...Gray.” He shook his head. “It’s negative...Thank God.” He glanced uneasily at the hospital door before looking back at Lucy, whose relief was evident. “Luce...this guy’s done this before. Cheyenne wasn’t his first victim.” Grayson went on to tell her what Cheyenne had told him about the attack. Lucy’s eyes went wide with shock. “Shit...that means there’s a sexual predator at Cheyenne’s college.” Grayson nodded. “Yep...and he almost got Chey tonight. She got away from him, but he could go after her again.” Lucy frowned as her mind was racing. She looked at Grayson. “Did she tell you who attacked her?” He nodded, as Lucy saw the well controlled fury swimming in his eyes. “It was her volleyball coach...the head coach.” Lucy swore as she felt the anger bubbling up inside her. “He’s been the volleyball coach there for several years. If he’s done this before, there has to be complaints.” Grayson frowned down at her. “I stepped out of the room while they were examining Cheyenne. I googled her school...they don’t exactly have the best track record of handling things like this. Like most colleges, they try to keep it out of the news.” Lucy rolled her eyes. “Of course they do...no college wants to be seen as being unable to keep the student body safe.” Grayson sighed as he looked at the still closed door to Cheyenne’s hospital room. “So...as far as her injuries. Nothing serious. The worst is some bruised ribs. Nothing broken, nothing sprained, she just needs to rest.” Lucy tilted her head to the side as she looked at Grayson. “Did you leave her side other than when they were examining her?” Grayson looked away uneasily before looking back at Lucy. “No, I didn’t. But I should probably get going now that you two are here.” Lucy smiled and grabbed his hand. “Pretty sure Chey would say hell no to that. At least tell her goodbye before you leave.” Grayson rolled his eyes, but knew Lucy was right. And the last thing he wanted to to do was hurt Cheyenne. They walked back into her hospital room as Lucy glanced at Grayson and she too began to wonder what exactly his feelings were for Cheyenne...and wondered if he even knew what they were. 

Cheyenne looked at Lucy and Grayson as they came back into her hospital room. Grayson smiled at her. “Ok kid...I’m way past exhausted, so I’m headed home…” He saw the panicked looked in Cheyenne’s eyes and immediately felt guilty. He honestly didn't want to let her out of his sight after what had happened to her. Tim and Lucy saw it too, and to everyone’s surprise, it was Tim who came up with the suggestion. “How about this...Grayson, you come crash at our house tonight. They’re about to release Cheyenne anyway, and she’s coming home with us.” Tim turned to glare at Cheyenne then, and she knew better than to argue. Lucy nodded at Grayson, as she saw Cheyenne calm down again. “That sounds like a plan. You go on home with Tim and Cheyenne, I’ll run by your house and get you a change of clothes.” Cheyenne looked at Tim and Lucy as Grayson yawned. “What about Sheeba?” Grayson smiled at her...of course she’d remember his dog. Tim shrugged his shoulders. “She can come too I guess. Ok with you, Luce?” Lucy nodded and smiled. “Yep! I’ll grab her food too. See you guys at home.” She kissed Cheyenne on the cheek as Cheyenne grabbed her in a quick hug. She kissed Tim, and then hugged Grayson. “Thanks for taking care of our girl, Gray.” He nodded and hugged Lucy back before she left the room and hurried off. 

After Tim, Cheyenne, and Grayson had arrived at the house, Tim had gotten Cheyenne settled into her room. Grayson had stretched out on the couch, but as exhausted as he was, he couldn’t stop worrying about Cheyenne. She had gotten really lucky tonight...and what would happen next? A million questions raced through his mind as Tim came to join him in the spacious living room. Tim flopped down into a recliner as Grayson glanced at him. “She asleep?” Tim shook his head, and gave Grayson a troubled look. “No...I’m not sure she’ll be going to sleep for a while...not until the pain killer kicks in anyway.” Grayson nodded and sighed as he looked at Tim. “She told me a lot of what happened tonight, Bradford.” Tim nodded grimly at Grayson. “And I want to know every damn detail she gave you. But it’s closing in on 5am. You need sleep, and so do I.” Grayson let out another huge yawn and closed his eyes. “You got that right.” Just then, Lucy walked in, with Sheeba, and a bag for Grayson, and Sheeba’s food. “Here’s your princess. She loves car rides.” Grayson laughed at that with his eyes closed. “Yeah she does...she’s got a busier social life than I do.” Sheeba suddenly whined then, and Grayson opened his eyes. Cheyenne had come into the room, and had sat on the other end of the couch, and Sheeba was oh so excited to see one of her very best friends. She whined and licked Cheyenne’s hand as Cheyenne petted her. “I’m ok girl….thanks for checking on me.” Tim frowned at Cheyenne. “You should be in bed, sweetheart.” Cheyenne firmly shook her head. “No...I...I don’t want to be alone right now. Please dad.” Tim sighed as he stood up. “Ok...I’m going to take a quick shower, and change. I’ll be right back.” Lucy nodded as she looked at Cheyenne. “I’m going to throw some pj’s on, and then I’ll make us all some sleepy time tea, ok?” Cheyenne nodded as she glanced at Grayson, whose eyes were closed already. “Looks like he doesn’t need any.” Lucy smiled as she followed Tim out of their living room, down the hallway, and into the master bedroom. Tim sighed as he stripped and headed for the shower. Lucy followed him into the bathroom, lightly smacking his butt, as she went to the sink. She brushed her teeth while he took a quick shower. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts of what Cheyenne had been through that night, and what they were going to do about it. They finished up in the bathroom, and quickly put on their pj’s. 

They quietly padded back into the living room and both froze. Tim frowned at the sight before him, before turning his frown on Lucy. He softly whispered to her as she quietly chuckled at the situation. “Great...now what?” Lucy rolled her eyes at him. “What do you mean now what? Just leave them alone. Grayson’s worn out from our crazy shifts and snoring...and honestly, Cheyenne will probably get a better night’s sleep in here with him and Sheeba than she would closed off in her room...she’s only spent like two nights in that room. After everything she’s been through tonight babe, let’s just leave this alone for right now, ok?” Tim sighed and glanced back at the couch...he supposed Lucy was right. He trusted Grayson, and knew he wouldn’t be inappropriate. And Cheyenne probably would sleep better if she felt safe, and she definitely felt safe with Grayson. He stared at Grayson, who was in a deep sleep and snoring. He had his feet perched on the coffee table and was leaning slightly to the right, his head leaned back against the couch. Cheyenne was seated next to him with her feet on the coffee table, and she was sound asleep with her head on Grayson’s chest, and his arm was wrapped around her shoulders. Sheeba was taking up the rest of the couch, and she was stretched out across Grayson and Cheyenne, and they were all underneath a quilt Lucy’s mom had made. 

Lucy quietly padded over to the side table by Cheyenne and turned the lamp off. Sheeba sleepily rasied her head and Lucy gave her a quick pat. Sheeba, satisfied with the good night pat, laid her head back down in Grayson’s lap and closed her eyes. Lucy reached for Tim’s hand as he pulled her close and kissed her. He kept his voice quiet so he wouldn’t wake Grayson and Cheyenne. “Thanks, Boot.” Lucy smiled at him. “For what? Doing my job?” Tim rolled his eyes. “I guess your job does now entail keeping me in line, and you were right earlier about me needing to calm down. Might need to remind me of that tomorrow when we get into all of this.” Lucy kissed him back, a bit deeper this time, and laid her head on his shoulder as they padded out of the room. “Don’t worry. I got your back, Bradford.” She and Tim reached their bedroom and wearily climbed into bed, as the soft pitter patter of raindrops almost instantly lulled them to sleep. 

Only an hour had passed when Cheyenne jerked awake quickly sat up and started to scream. It was dark and still raining and the nightmare had been clawing at her. Grayson wearily rubbed his eyes as he gently pulled Cheyenne back down to his chest. “Shhh...I got your back, Chey. Go back to sleep.” Cheyenne snuggled into Grayson and closed her eyes. “Don’t you need to go lie down? This can’t be comfortable for you.” Grayson sighed as Sheeba snored, making Cheyenne chuckle. “I’m fine.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.” Grayson readjusted his head and looked at her. “No it’s not. What’s stupid is arguing over whether something is stupid or not. Just so you know, I’m really proud of how you handled yourself tonight. Now, if you don’t let me go back to sleep, you’re going to find out what a prick I can be in the mornings.” He patted her shoulder then and closed his eyes and Cheyenne quieted back down...and in no time at all they had both fallen fast asleep again.


	4. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheyenne and Grayson wake up the next morning, and Grayson starts to realize that he's walking a dangerous line with her. Cheyenne tells Tim and Lucy the details of her attack. Tim, Lucy, and Grayson vow to take down Coach Faulkner.

Cheyenne slowly opened her eyes as she heard the birds singing and saw the early morning sun filtering through the windows. She yawned as she glanced around. Grayson was awake and was staring at her, a sleepy smile on his face. He kept his voice soft as to not wake up Tim and Lucy, who were still asleep. “Morning.” Cheyenne groaned as she closed her eyes and snuggled against his chest, pulling the quilt up to her chin. She yawned as she spoke and Grayson barely understood her. “Yeah...I guess it is.” Sheeba readjusted herself in their laps before stretching, and then jumping off the couch. Grayson rubbed his eyes as he tried to sit up. “I have to take her out...she’ll whine until I do.” Cheyenne nodded as she glanced up at Grayson. “Thanks for everything Grayson...really. I owe you one.” He smiled down at her. “Yep, you sure do, and I promise, I will collect...at some point.” Their stares lingered on each other a bit too long, before Grayson cleared his throat. “Ok...time for me to get up.” He quickly kissed her forehead, and then gently pushed Cheyenne out of his lap. He needed to put some distance between himself and Cheyenne. She snuggled back down on the couch under the quilt as Grayson stood up and stretched. He look down at her, and sighed. He was glad she was safe, but Grayson still felt like he wanted to punch something...or someone. He shoved his anger aside and walked to the back door that led to a fenced in yard, and let Sheeba out for her morning ritual. He stood there in the yard feeling the gentle breeze, watching the day take shape. He had a lot to do today, and wondered what the day would bring. He also wondered when he stopped seeing Cheyenne as a little sister. He didn't think of her as more than a friend, but she definitely wasn't just a little sister anymore to him. 

Tim woke up first and quietly padded out of the bedroom, letting Lucy sleep. He walked down the hallway, and grimaced. He hoped he had done the right thing last night by letting Cheyenne stay with Grayson on the couch. When he walked to the living room, he was surprised to see Cheyenne on the couch alone, under the quilt. She opened her eyes at Tim sat on the edge of the couch. He rubbed her shoulder and back. “How’re you feeling this morning sweetheart?” Cheyenne sighed. “Better...not as sore. Now I just feel gross.” Tim gently smiled at her. “I imagine so. I’m going to start breakfast...why don’t you go take a shower?” Cheyenne nodded as she tossed the quilt off. Tim berated himself as he felt the relief that she was still clothed. Well, obviously she’d still be clothed. He knew Grayson wouldn’t have been inappropriate with her..he was just being overprotective. He sighed as he stood up and walked into the kitchen as Cheyenne headed to the bathroom that was off her bedroom. 

Grayson came inside and shut the door as Sheeba bounded into the kitchen. She smelled bacon, so that meant Tim was her new best friend. Tim grinned at her as Sheeba looked up at him adoringly. “It’s not ready yet girl...I’ll cook some extra bacon just for you for helping take care of my girl last night, ok?” As if she understood him, Sheeba brushed her head against his leg before going into the living room to wait for her special treat. Grayson rolled his shoulders as he looked at Tim. “Please tell me you have coffee.” Tim rolled his eyes at Grayson. “Of course I have coffee, Wells. I’ll get it started in a minute.” Grayson nodded gratefully as he sat down at the kitchen table. He glanced at Sheeba and then back at Tim. “So...where do we start?” Tim sighed as he got bacon, eggs, tomatoes and cheese out of the fridge. He pulled a skillet out of a cabinet and poured a tiny bit of oil in it and set it on the stove, turning the stove on. He glanced back at Grayson as he then went to another cabinet and pulled out some coffee. As he prepared the coffee he sighed again. “We can start with you telling me everything that Cheyenne told you last night. I assume she told you who did this to her?” Grayson grimly nodded as he looked at Tim. “Yeah...she told me. It was her head volleyball coach.” Tim turned around and frowned at Grayson. “Her coach did this?” Grayson closed his eyes and rubbed his face as he took a deep breath. He opened them again as Tim swore and turned back around to the coffee maker. He dumped the coffee into the filter, grabbed the coffee pot and filled it with water. After the coffee began brewing, he laid some thick slices of bacon into the hot skillet. As the bacon was sizzling away in the skillet, Tim was doing his best to control his temper. “That fucking prick! I never liked that guy. The couple of times I met him he seemed, I’m not sure, off somehow I guess.” Grayson nodded as Tim turned around to face Grayson. “So what’s the plan here, Bradford?” Tim sighed and shrugged. “Well, Cheyenne’s college doesn’t have their own police force...it’s too small a college for that. And they don’t fall under the LAPD’s jurisdiction...L.A. County Sheriff’s Office is who will handle this.” Grayson nodded and sighed as he got up to get two coffee mugs down. He poured himself and Tim some coffee as Tim flipped the bacon in the skillet. Grayson sighed as he went to the fridge looking for some milk or cream. “So...here’s the thing. We could go get that prick right now for going after Cheyenne. But Cheyenne told me she’s not his first victim.” Grayson poured some half and half into his coffee, as Tim looked sharply at him. “How would Cheyenne know that?” Grayson sighed as Tim handed him a spoon for his coffee. “Because when he was...attacking her, he told her that he thought she was different, but she’s just like the others. Those were his exact words.” Tim shook his head as he transferred the cooked bacon onto a paper towel lined plate to drain, and put more bacon in the skillet. “So that means this thing just got a whole lot bigger.” Grayson nodded as he sipped his coffee. “It does if we want to get him for multiple charges on multiple victims, yeah.” Grayson was about to tell Tim more of the story when Cheyenne walked into the kitchen. He sipped his coffee as they both looked at Cheyenne. She was dressed, with her wet hair brushed back from her face. She looked pale, which made her bruises really stand out...and her right eye was purple and still really swollen. Grayson set his coffee on the counter and went to give Cheyenne a hug. He rubbed her back up and down before he eased back. “So, I was just about to tell your dad everything that you told me...but this is your story Cheyenne. You’re the one this happened to...you should be the one to tell him.” Cheyenne looked at Grayson and took a deep breath and nodded. 

Just then Lucy walked in and smiled at everyone. She went over to kiss Tim before getting out a coffee mug for herself. She poured a cup of coffee which she drowned in half and half and suger before glancing at Cheyenne. “You want anything to drink sweetie?” Cheyenne nodded. “Orange juice if you have it, please.” Lucy nodded and smiled at her as she fixed a glass of juice for Cheyenne. She sat down at the table with her coffee as she handed Cheyenne her juice. She glanced around at everyone and frowned. “What’s going on?” Cheyenne looked at Grayson uneasily as he nodded encouragingly at her. Tim sighed as he finished cooking breakfast. “Cheyenne was about to give us the whole story of what happened to her last night.” Lucy put her coffee down on the table and reached for Cheyenne’s hand. And Cheyenne began telling her story...and Lucy, Grayson, and Tim felt their tempers rising with every word. 

LAST NIGHT 8PM  
Cheyenne was taking the volleyball net down in the gym. Practice had gone great, and she couldn’t wait for the game in a couple of days. They had switched up some players into different positions, and she thought they had a real chance at beating the next team on their game schedule ...a team they hadn’t been able to beat the last four seasons in a row. Her teammate Ashley glanced at her and smiled as she helped Cheyenne finish taking down the net. “You want to go get some dinner when we’re through here?” Cheyenne smiled at her. “I’d love to Ash, but I’ll have to take a raincheck, I’ve got to finish two papers and study for a test. Maybe tomorrow night?” Ashley nodded as they folded the net up and carried it to the storage room. “Sounds great!” Just then, the girls turned at the sound of footsteps on the gym floor. “Bradford...come to my office before you leave.” Coach Faulkner eyed Cheyenne...he’d had his eye on her for a while. She might be 17, but she looked 27. Cheyenne didn’t notice the predatory gleam in his eyes...but Ashley did. Cheyenne nodded as the coach walked out of the gym and went back to his office. Cheyenne noticed the crestfallen look on Ashley’s face and frowned. “What’s wrong, Ash?” Ashley pasted a bright smile on her face and shook her head. “Oh...it’s nothing. Just a little more hungry than I thought. You sure you can’t come with me?” Cheyenne smiled and nodded. “Yeah...I really need to get that paper finished.” Ashley looked down at the floor and nodded. She walked up to Cheyenne and grabbed her hand. “Text me later, ok?” Cheyenne nodded and hugged her teammate goodbye and hurried off to find out what Coach Faulkner wanted. Ashley sighed as she fought back the tears as she watched Cheyenne leave. She wished there was something she could do...but she knew there wasn’t. She hurried out of the gym, suddenly not hungry at all anymore.  
Cheyenne went into Coach Faulkner’s office. He glanced up as she came in and smiled at her. “Hey there...shut the door, Bradford.” Cheyenne nodded as she turned around to close his door. She was startled to find the Coach suddenly directly behind her as he reached in front of her to lock the door. She felt his breath on her neck as his hands started rubbing her shoulders. Cheyenne didn’t turn around, and her voice was shaky. “Coach...what are you doing?” Coach Faulkner smiled as he pressed his lips onto Cheyenne’s neck, making her shudder in fear. His voice was soft and dangerous, sending chills up and down Cheyenne’s spine. “Just relax baby...this is something I’ve wanted for a long time. I promise you, you’ll love it.” Cheyenne’s gust twisted with fear as she slowly turned around and faced her Coach. Her heart broke as she realized the man she had trusted, the Coach she had admired, gave her a predatory look. Tears began pouring down Cheyenne’s cheeks. “Coach...No. I don’t want this. Please stop.” Coach Faulkner leaned towards her and tried to kiss her, but Cheyenne turned her head. “No! No, please don’t do this, Coach, please!” Coach Faulkner grabbed her shoulders tightly, painfully as Cheyenne’s eyes went wide with fear. He frowned down at her. “I’ve seen you looking at me, Cheyenne. I know there’s a reason you’re always staying late after practices.” Cheyenne frantically shook her head. “I stay late to train and work out! That’s it!” Coach Faulkner rolled his eyes and laughed an evil laugh. “We both know that’s not it...we both know you want this!” He pinned her against the door and leaned down to kiss her when Cheyenne roughly shoved him away and smacked him, hard, across the face, catching him completely off guard. “I said no!” Cheyenne shoved him away again, hard, and quickly turned around, fumbling with the locked door. She had just unlocked the door when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders yank her away from the door and toss her across the room. She landed against the desk, and was suddenly pinned from behind. She heard the Coach unzip his pants. She screamed but no one came to help her. She suddenly felt his hands gripping her legs hard trying to spread her legs, forcefully, painfully. And that’s when Cheyenne knew she had to fight, and fight hard. 

Cheyenne straightened back up and slammed the back of her head into his face. Coach Faulkner let go of her, clutching his nose as he glared at her. “You little bitch! I thought you were different Cheyenne...but you’re not. You’re just like all the others.” Coach Faulkner came after her then, and she punched him three times in the face. But he could take a punch, and he then slammed his fist into her face. She tried to dodge the blows, but she couldn’t. She fell down and he kicked her several times in her ribs, hard. She glanced down on the floor looking for anything she could use for a weapon, but didn’t see anything. When he paused in kicking her, Cheyenne reared her leg back and kicked him hard, right in the balls, causing Coach Faulkner to crumple to his feet. Cheyenne stood up and ran...she ran and ran and ran as fast as her legs could carry her across the campus. She made it to her dorm room and opened the door, ever so grateful that her roommate hadn’t locked it. She slammed the door shut and locked it, taking several heaving breaths as tears poured down her face. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. 

PRESENT DAY  
By this time Cheyenne was crying as Lucy had engulfed her in her arms. Tim was sitting at the table, holding Cheyenne’s hand, and Grayson stood behind her his hands on her shoulders. Tim squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’m so proud of you sweetheart. You fought back...you took control of the situation. You didn’t give up baby...you fought back, just like we showed you.” Grayson pointed out her bruised knuckles to Tim and Lucy. “Yeah she did...look at her knuckles.” Lucy pulled away from Cheyenne and picked her hands up to examine her knuckles. “Good for you, Chey. I’m proud of you for fighting back.” Cheyenne glanced around at her cheering section and let out a watery laugh. “Thanks for showing me how to kick butt, guys.” They all smiled at her then. Tim got up and brought the plates of food to the table. Cheyenne shook her head but Tim just pointed. “You need to eat, baby. Then we’re putting a plan together.” Cheyenne sighed as she began to eat breakfast. Grayson reached for her hand that was under the table and squeezed it reassuringly. Cheyenne looked at him and smiled as she took a bite of eggs. Then she looked at Tim. “So what happens now?” Tim sighed as he sip his coffee. “Now...we go take that fucker down.” Cheyenne glanced around the table again and saw Lucy and Grayson nodding vigorously in agreement with Tim. Grayson winked at her. “I told you before, Chey...I’ve got your back. We all do.” Cheyenne smiled at him as Sheeba whined, and they all laughed when Cheyenne fed Sheeba some bacon.


	5. Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is hatched to take down Coach Faulkner. Tim is furious that Cheyenne is part of that plan. Grayson advises Cheyenne of the different choices she has concerning her case. But, in a surprise to no one, Cheyenne goes with the toughest choice of them all.

Lucy frowned into her coffee as she looked at Grayson. “Aren’t you going to be late for work?” Grayson shook his head. “Nope. I called in sick today, as I suspect both of you did as well.” Tim glanced at Grayson and smiled, as did Lucy. Grayson, slightly embarrassed, shrugged his shoulders. “When Chey got to my house last night she was a wreck...I didn’t know what was happening at first, or what needed to be done. So, I called in sick today and told her I’d take care of it.” Lucy smiled broadly at Grayson as she glanced at Cheyenne. “You definitely have another overprotector in this one.” Cheyenne glanced at Grayson and smiled. “Yeah, I know.” Grayson smiled at Cheyenne as an idea came to him. He downed his coffee and stood up, taking his dishes to the sink. “So...I’ve got a few calls to make. I’ll be in the living room.” Cheyenne frowned thoughtfully at him as Lucy and Tim glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders. Tim frowned at Cheyenne as he sipped his coffee. “Grayson’s not the only one with calls to make. We need to call nana and pops.” Cheyenne shook her head frantically at Tim. “Please dad...not yet, ok?” Tim sighed as he looked back at Cheyenne. “We need to tell them baby. Technically, they’re your legal guardians. They have to know what’s going on.” Cheyenne sighed and nodded, as Tim went to retrieve his cell phone. Lucy grabbed Cheyenne’s hand and grasped it firmly in her own. “You’re going to get through this, Cheyenne...and we’ll all help you get you through it. You’re not alone in this...I want you to remember that, ok?” Cheyenne nodded her head as Lucy pulled her into a firm hung.

Grayson walked back in the kitchen then and helped himself to another cup of coffee. Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. He glanced at Cheyenne who shot him a pleading look...obviously she didn’t want Lucy to know about her nightmare. Grayson covered for her. “Normally I don’t have an almost hundred pound dog asleep in my lap all night. So, I need a little extra caffeine this morning...if that’s ok with you, Chen?” Lucy smirked at him as she finished her coffee. “Please drink all the caffeine you need...Wells. I don’t need two cranky cops to deal with today, one is enough.” Cheyenne snickered at that as Grayson smiled at them. Tim rejoined them soon after and sighed. “Well...I managed to talk nana and pops out of coming here, at least for now. But they’re really hurt you didn’t call them first Cheyenne. You need to call them later and explain.” Cheyenne nodded her head. “I’ll call them tonight...I promise.” Tim nodded, satisfied, and sat back down at the table as Grayson cleared his throat. Lucy, Cheyenne and Tim all glanced up at him. Grayson sipped his coffee as he told them his news. “Ok...so, here it is. My next door neighbor, Annie, is dating an L.A. County Sheriff. I explained to her our situation…” he glanced at Cheyenne’s panicked look and tried to soothe. “Most of it anyway. Annie and her boyfriend, his name is Colin Weir, will be here within an hour.” Tim frowned at that. “Why are they coming here?” Grayson sighed. “Because according to Colin, he’s got some info relevant to this that he wants to share with you, and had some other things to discuss with you, concerning all of this. I’m not exactly sure what that means.” Tim sighed and nodded as he finished his coffee. “Ok, then.” He and Lucy stood up, and went to shower and get dressed. Cheyenne and Grayson took Sheeba out into the backyard. Grayson glanced at Cheyenne and sighed. “Chey...there’s something you need to understand here.” Cheyenne glanced at Grayson, a troubled look on her face. “What is it?” Grayson tossed a tennis ball for Sheeba to chase. “This case is going to explode, fast...you’re a minor, so, hopefully that will help, but, Chey, I’d guess by the end of the day today, the amount of people that will know what happen to you will be triple what it is right now. And that amount will increase exponentially if the media gets wind of it.” Grayson closed his eyes. “Christ, I hope that doesn’t happen.” Cheyenne looked fearfully at Grayson. “If Coach finds out that I told, he’s going to come after me again Grayson. He’s going to try and hurt me again.” Grayson shook his head as he pulled her into his arms. “I told you...I’m not going to let that happen. Neither is your dad or mumsy. We will do whatever we have to do to stop him Cheyenne.” Cheyenne nodded as she eased back and saw the question in Grayson’s eyes. “What?” Grayson sighed. “Well, like I said, me, your dad and mumsy will do whatever we have to do to stop him from hurting you again. But are you ready to do the same? Because right now, Cheyenne, you’re the one holding all the cards. You don’t have to do anything...how you handle this is your choice. But right now, from where I’m sitting, you’re the only one that can stop him from doing this to someone else.” Cheyenne folded her arms across her chest and frowned at Grayson. “You mean go all the way with this...take it to trial.” Grayson sadly nodded at her. “Yep...that’s what I mean. No one can fault you if you don’t want to do that Cheyenne. But as things stand right now, you’re the one that has a big choice to make. Because if you decide not to do anything about it, he’ll most likely do this to someone else.” Cheyenne looked up at the blue sky as a light breeze blew across her face. She knew what she was going to do...she’d known the night she’d shown up at Grayson’s house. “There’s no choice to make here, Grayson. I know what I have to do. I took down one monster already...the monster who killed my mother. I’ll take this one down too.” It was then that Grayson had noticed that Tim had stepped outside, and had caught the end of their conversation. Grayson couldn’t help but smile at the fierce look of pride that flashed across Tim’s face...it matched his own. Cheyenne turned and smiled at her dad. Tim went up to her and gave her a fierce hug before pulling back to look at her. “You sure you’re ready for this, sweetheart?” Cheyenne squared her shoulders and determinedly nodded at her father. “I’m ready, dad. Let’s go get this son of a bitch.” 

Two hours later, it was clear the person who was absolutely not ready for this was Tim. He was pacing back and forth through his kitchen as he angrily shook his head at his audience. “Forget it. There is no way in hell I’m sending my seventeen year old daughter who has zero experience as a cop into an undercover investigation. You’ve all lost your damn minds if any of you think that’s going to happen!” Grayson rolled his eyes as he tried to reason with Tim. “Bradford...I get it. But think about it...out of all of us, the person who can get closest to Faulkner as fast as possible is Cheyenne. If he thinks that she hasn’t told anyone what happened, and if he thinks she’s not going to do anything about it, that will save us a ton of time.” Colin glanced at Tim. “I’m sorry Tim...I really am, but it’s the best option we have. We don’t have a big sex crimes unit like the LAPD does to investigate this...our resources in that area are pretty limited. And if the LAPD puts one of theirs undercover, you’re looking at a much longer investigation. This is the fastest way to take Faulkner down before he has a chance to hurt more young women.” Tim stopped pacing and sighed. He glanced at Colin. “Colin, look, I’m sorry what happened to your niece when she played under Faulkner. I really am...but I’m not sacrificing my daughter for that. I just can’t do it.” 

Lucy glanced around the room and took a deep breath, knowing she was about to really upset Tim. “I think we should let Cheyenne voice her opinion on this.” Tim turned to glare at his fiancee. “You can’t be serious, Boot! How can you even think of putting her in this kind of danger!” Lucy glanced at Cheyenne, and nodded encouragingly at her. “Cheyenne...what do you think of all of this?” Grayson, Tim, Colin and Annie all turned their eyes on her. Annie gently reached for her hand. “It’s a lot to take on Cheyenne, especially for someone your age.” Cheyenne sighed as she nodded...she understood that. She stood up and walked over to Tim, and reached for his hands and gripped them tightly in her own. “I have to do this dad...and I can do this. I have to do this...not only to take Coach down, but also for me. I won’t be his victim, and I won’t let him hurt anyone else.” Tim sighed as he looked at Cheyenne. “I know you want to baby, and I admire you for it...but you’re seventeen years old. Taking on a sexual predator...it’s dangerous.” Cheyenne nodded at him. “I know it is. But dad...I already took down one sexual predator, remember? I helped catch the person who raped and killed mama.” Tim sighed, struggling for patience. “I know you did baby, and I’m so proud of you for that, but this is different. You had a lot of people helping you then.” Grayson stood up then, and walked to Tim. “She’ll have a lot of help this time too.” Tim frowned at him. “What are you talking about, Wells?” Grayson glanced at Cheyenne and then back at Tim. “I’ll go in, undercover, as a student. Cheyenne can get intel on Faulkner, which I’ll help her with, and I can also act as like a bodyguard, in case he gives her any trouble.” Tim shook his head. “It won’t work, he knows you.” Grayson rolled his eyes. “No he doesn’t. I’ve only made it to one of her games, and I got there when it was almost over. I highly doubt he remembers me.” Tim glanced at Lucy...and sighed. He couldn’t be objective about this. “What do you think, Boot?” Lucy glanced around the room. “I think we need to let Cheyenne do this...as long as Grayson can back her up. I also think we need to take our plan to the LAPD Major Crimes Unit. We need to start documentation on all of this so we can make sure a trial happens. There’s no point to any of this if we can’t get him permanently out of coaching and into prison.” Colin and Annie nodded in agreement as did Grayson. Cheyenne smiled as she glanced at Tim. “Well, dad, what do you think?” Tim rolled his eyes. “I think, why me, why did I have to have such an amazing, brave, fearless daughter who apparently thinks nothing of taking on the world whenever she has to.” Cheyenne laughed at him and pulled him into a hug. Lucy fished out her cell phone and called her soon to be brother in law, Detective Adam Sutherland, who worked in Major Crimes. She briefly chatted with him and smiled as she hung up. “We’re meeting Adam in an hour.” Tim nodded, but couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that washed over him.


	6. Reinforcements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The LAPD is brought in on Cheyenne's case. Grayson confides in Cheyenne about a loss he suffered long ago that is part of his motivation to bring down her Coach. Cheyenne and Tim have a fight when Cheyenne thinks he's being too overprotective. And Cheyenne realizes how many people love her and will fight for her.

Adam frowned as he listened to Cheyenne’s story...and his frown got much deeper as he listened to her plan. He sighed as he briefly closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He opened his eyes again and looked around his office. “So...let me get this straight. A well liked, highly successful college volleyball coach is a sexual predator, who’s probably been doing this bullshit for years. And he attacked one of his star players, who happens to be the daughter of a well liked and well respected LAPD cop, and now that daughter wants to go after this sexual predator by herself?” Tim rolled his eyes as Cheyenne frowned at him. Adam sighed again. “Oh wait, my bad...she wants to use a rookie cop with no undercover experience as backup. Did I leave anything out?” Lucy glared at Adam. “No, you didn’t leave anything out Detective Sutherland, and this is bullshit. You think Tim or I want Cheyenne anywhere near any of this? We damn well don’t! But it will take months for one of your detectives to get close enough to the coach to get anything useful from him, and we don’t have that kind of time. Cheyenne has to go back to school soon, and back to the team. If she suddenly quits school or the team or both, Coach Faulkner will suspect something is up, and he’ll probably bail before we have a chance to do anything, and then he’ll be free to do this again, somewhere else. So stop screwing around with us!” 

Everyone stared in shock at Lucy, who rarely raised her voice. But this time, she had yelled loud enough to bring her boss running. Sgt. Grey opened the door to Adam’s office and frowned at everyone. “What the hell is going on in here? I heard Chen all the way down in my office. I never hear her yell, what did you guys do?” Tim sighed as Sgt. Grey looked around at everyone waiting for an explanation. Then Sgt. Grey noticed Grayson and frowned even more. “I thought you were sick today, Wells.” Grayson pretended to cough. “Yeah...got the laryngitis...or something.” Sgt. Grey rolled his eyes and stepped into Adam’s office, firmly shutting the door. “Someone better tell me what the hell is going on before I get really pissed.” Tim, Lucy and Grayson glanced at each other before Cheyenne stood up and walked to Sgt. Grey. “Ok...I’ll tell you.” Sgt. Grey raised his eyebrows in surprise as he glanced around the office. “So the only one that steps up is a teenager? I’m seriously impressed Cheyenne. Yes, please enlighten me as to what the hell is going on.” Sgt. Grey frowned at her but Cheyenne wasn’t intimidated. Grayson hid his smile, and couldn’t help but admire how Cheyenne went toe to toe with people almost effortlessly. She definitely was going to make one hell of a cop someday. She told Sgt. Grey everything, whose eyes went wider with shock at each word. By the end of her story, Sgt. Grey had taken a seat and was looking at her with both admiration and surprise.

Later that evening, with Sgt. Grey’s blessing, and Detective Sutherland’s grudging admiration, a plan was put in place to catch Coach Faulkner. Tim, Lucy, Cheyenne, and Grayson were eating dinner at Tim and Lucy’s house. They were all huddled around the kitchen table, eating chinese takeout, something that had quickly become Cheyenne’s favorite food. Cheyenne took a big bite of her General Tso’s Chicken and sighed. “I think I know who to start with as far as finding out if Coach has done this before.” Grayson frowned at her. “Who?” Lucy sipped her water as Tim sipped his merlot that went fabulously with his beef and broccoli. Cheyenne sighed as she took a big gulp of milk. “The night he attacked me, me and Ashley, she’s one of my teammates, were taking the net down and cleaning the gym up so the basketball team could practice. That was when Coach came into the gym and told me to come to his office.” Cheyenne took another drink, trying to calm her nerves as she continued telling her story. “Ashley got this weird look on her face as soon as Coach asked me that...almost like she was scared. And she told me to text her when I got back to my dorm. She normally doesn’t ask me to do that.” Grayson sighed as he looked at Cheyenne. “I bet you my next paycheck he’s done something, or at least tried to do something, to Ashley.” Cheyenne sadly nodded as Tim forced his food down. He still wasn’t at all comfortable with what they were about to do. He looked worriedly at Cheyenne. “There’s still time for you to back out Chey. We can come up with another plan.” Cheyenne glared at Tim. “No we can’t, and no we don’t have any more time.” She angrily shoved up from the table and started to storm out of the kitchen when she looked back at Tim, who was watching her. “And you know what really sucks dad? The fact that you don’t think I can handle myself. I’ve been handling myself, mostly on my own, for the majority of my life. I can do this! Thanks for having zero faith in me.” Cheyenne angrily brushed her tears away as she ran off to her room...a few minutes later they all heard her door slam, making Tim wince. “Damn. What the hell did I say? Doesn’t she know I’m worried about her?” Grayson sighed as he sipped his beer. Lucy stood up and gathered the dinner plates, taking them to the kitchen counter. She gently set them on the counter before turning back to face Tim as she crossed her arms. “Yes, Tim she does know you’re worried about her. But you’re doing to her what you did to me right after you rescued me from Caleb. You treated me like a victim who had to be protected from everyone and everything...you treated me like a piece of glass that could easily break, and it almost ruined us. Don’t do that to Cheyenne, you’ll lose her if you do. I promise you, you’ll lose her.” As Lucy and Tim started arguing, Grayson went to find Cheyenne.

He gently knocked on her door. He heard nothing and frowned, so he pushed it open. He saw her glaring at him from the bed, and felt himself fully relax...a part of him was afraid she’d taken off again. “Go away, Grayson, I don’t want you trying to talk me out of it.” Grayson rolled his eyes as he came to sit next to Cheyenne on the bed. “I’m not going to try to talk you out of it.” Cheyenne frowned at him then. “You’re not?” Grayson laughed as he shook his head. “Hell no...trying to talk you out of something once your mind is made up is like trying to talk to a brick wall. I know you need to do this Cheyenne, and I understand why.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes at him. “How would you know?” Grayson sighed as he looked at the wall, and a name came out so softly Cheyenne barely heard him. “Hannah.” Cheyenne frowned at him. “Hannah? Who’s she?” Grayson took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. Even after all this time, it still hurt to remember and talk about her. He opened his eyes and sadly looked at Cheyenne. “Hannah was a good friend of mine all through high school.” Cheyenne heard the sadness in his voice and her expression softened. “What happened to her?” Grayson sighed as he thought of Hannah, and her infectious laugh that was now forever silenced. “Same thing that happened to you...except it was her swim coach, and he unfortunately was successful.” Cheyenne rested her head on Grayson’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, Gray. How did she cope with it?” Grayson wiped a tear away. “She didn’t. Her parents refused to press charges against him, because they didn’t want the publicity of a trial. They basically told her to forget what happened and never to speak of it again. They were also embarrassed by what happened. They never allowed her to discuss it.” Cheyenne frowned at that. “That’s fucked up Gray.” Grayson nodded. “Yep.” Cheyenne sighed as she continued to rest her head on his shoulder. “Do I want to know what happened to her?” Grayson sadly shook his head. “No, but I’ll tell you anyway. A year after it happened, she killed herself. She never got any help in dealing with what happened, and she never got justice. She couldn’t deal with it, and fell into a deep depression. She hung herself in her bedroom one day while her parents were at work. So, I get why you need to do this, Chey.” She lifted her head and looked at him. Grayson wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “But you need to understand how hard this is for your dad to handle. It’s hard as hell watching someone you love go through something so brutal, and not be able to stop it or fix it for them.” Cheyenne nodded as Grayson looked at her. “I know...and I know it’s hard for dad especially, because he almost lost mumsy when Caleb snatched her.” Lucy had once confided in Cheyenne everything that Caleb had done to her, and Cheyenne had been in awe of how Lucy had survived, but she’d never really thought about her dad and how he’d handled it all...until now. Cheyenne sighed as Grayson looked at her. “So...about tomorrow. When you go back to school, I’ll be there, as a student. But we don’t know each other, we’re not friends, we’re nothing. Got it?” Cheyenne nodded as Grayson looked at her intently. “You have my cell number. If anything happens, at any time, you call me, or text me, immediately. I mean it, Cheyenne. My main objective is keeping you safe.” Cheyenne frowned at him then. “I thought you were there to investigate Coach?” Grayson rolled his eyes. “Partly...there will be other offices there undercover handling that part. I’m there to protect you.” Cheyenne sighed and nodded and took a deep breath...it was getting real now.

Cheyenne glanced up at Tim knocked on her door. He glanced at her and Grayson. Grayson squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll give you two some privacy.” He left Cheyenne’s room, and broke out into a broad smile as he saw everyone who was now standing in Tim and Lucy’s living room. Tim shut the door, and walked over to sit next to Cheyenne. He sighed as he looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry Cheyenne. I really am. Cut me some slack here, ok? I’m new to this dad thing, and you’re practically an adult already. And after everything that happened to Lucy…” Tim cut himself off and closed his eyes, shaking his head. Cheyenne tilted her head into his shoulder as Tim sighed. “I just wish you felt as safe confiding in me and coming to me as you do Grayson. I mean, I’m glad you two are friends, but…” Cheyenne laughed as she reached for Tim’s hand. “Grayson is my friend dad. I know he’d never hurt me and would be there for me in a heartbeat if I need him. But I am close to you. I love you and mumsy...that’s the main reason I went to Grayson first with this.” Tim frowned at her then. “I’m not following you.” Cheyenne sighed as she looked up at him. “I know how hard it was on you and mumsy after everything you two went through because of Caleb. I know how badly that hurt both of you. I didn’t want to add to it I guess...I was trying to protect you, both of you.” Tim sighed as he pulled Cheyenne into his side and kissed her temple. “Thanks for trying to protect us, Chey. And we love you too...so much. But try and remember that it’s also our job to protect you, ok?” Cheyenne sat up and looked at him, frowning. “I’m not a victim, dad.” Tim smiled at her. “No, you’re not. You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever known. But I love you...and part of loving you involves protecting you. I’ll try not go overboard on that, if you’ll try and cut me a little slack.” Cheyenne nodded as she tilted her head back onto Tim’s shoulder. “I have to get back to school in the morning dad...are you ready for this?” The smile fell from Tim’s face as he pulled Cheyenne into his side. He nodded his head, but in truth, he wasn’t ready for this. 

Just then, Cheyenne heard Lucy call her into the living room. Cheyenne frowned as she stood up. “I thought mumsy was going to bed early?” Tim just laughed. “Well, she did too, but apparently she didn’t. Let’s go see what’s up.” Cheyenne followed Tim into the living room...and tears came to her eyes. There stood Sgt. Grey, his fiancee Monica, Officer Nolan and his girlfriend, Grace, Officer Lopez and her husband, Wesley, who was holding their son, Timothy, Detective Harper and her husband, Jase, and Officer West and his boyfriend, Jackson. Cheyenne smiled through her tears as she looked at everyone. “What are you guys doing here?” Nyla and Angela smiled at each other as Angela walked over to her and grabbed her in a hug. “Just letting you know, we’ve all got your back on this, Chey. Me, Nolan, Harper and West talked to Sarge, and we all got put on the case. We’re all being brought in on your case, and will all be at your school until this is over.” Cheyenne gasped as she looked back at Tim and Lucy and Grayson. Tim sighed as he went to her, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Luce and I can’t be there...they won’t allow it. So since we can’t be there, everyone else stepped up.” Cheyenne looked back at everyone and couldn’t fight back the tears. Nyla and Jase came up to her and hugged her. Nyla asked for her cell phone, and Cheyenne handed it to her. Nyla quickly keyed in everyone’s cell number before handing it back to Cheyenne. “You get in any kind of trouble, you start calling us. I promise you, we’ll get to you as fast as we can.” Jase leaned in and whispered to Cheyenne. “I’m the fastest, I’m way faster than my wife, so call me first.” Nyla frowned at him as Jase just grinned back at her. Cheynne grinned at everyone. “You guys are the best.” Angela looked at Tim, and saw his worried look that he couldn’t hide. “Don’t worry, Tim...we’ve got her.” Tim just nodded, and tried not to think about what tomorrow would bring.


	7. Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheyenne and the team begin to lay to groundwork for the trap to catch Coach Faulkner. But a major setback threatens the entire case and makes Cheyenne feel trapped in the old life she used to have. As Cheyenne prepares to run again, Grayson tries to convince her to stay and fight for herself and the other victims of Coach Faulkner.

Cheyenne was back in her Coach’s office. She pushed down her fears and shut down her nerves and focused on the mission at hand...and that mission was to bring this bastard down. The story that Cheyenne had been telling everyone was that she had been mugged while out to dinner with her family in Los Angeles. The story her Coach had been telling everyone was that he had been in a car accident. Cheyenne had left him with a messed up face too, and she took some pride in that. Cheyenne’s main mission today was to make sure she wasn’t kicked off the team, which meant she had to mend fences with her Coach, that way she’d be allowed to be in his office alone.

Coach Faulkner frowned at her as Cheyenne sighed. “Look, I’m sorry Coach. You just caught me off guard, and I just went through a bad breakup.” Coach Faulkner frowned at that. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.” Cheyenne waved her hand back and forth. “Yeah, for a little while. He lives in a different state, and we just couldn’t make it work. The breakup was ugly.” Coach Faulkner sighed. “Well, if I had known that, I might have taken things a bit slower with you, Chey.” Cheyenne was sick to her stomach, but she sucked it up. “Let’s just start over, ok Coach?” Coach Faulkner smiled and nodded. He stood up and walked out from behind his desk and gently pulled Cheyenne into his arms. “I’m sorry I was so rough on you. Are you able to practice yet?” Cheyenne knew the play here...practice would be the perfect time to snoop in his office. She sadly shook her head. “No...a few more days and I will be. My ribs are still sore.” Coach Faulkner frowned at that, but nodded his head. “Ok...that’s ok. I’m sorry baby...I didn’t mean to lose my temper like that.” Cheyenne plastered a bright smile on her face and just nodded. Coach sighed. “You don’t really need the practice anyway, you’re the best player I’ve got. Hang out here, and I’ll come get you when we’re done, ok?” Cheyenne nodded, and kept her cool. “Umm...I’ll hang out here for a bit, but I’ve got lots of make up homework I need to do, and two make up tests I have to take.” Coach Faulkner nodded at that. He knew Chey had to keep her grades up in order to stay on the team. “Ok...well, hang out here if you want, I’ll come check on you when we take a break. If I don’t see you after practice, you can come to my house later if you want.” Cheyenne nodded, still smiling. “Sounds good.” Just then, a knock sounded on his door and he frowned. Cheyenne sat down in one of the chairs as Coach Faulkner opened it. “What’s up, Cortez?” Juan Cortez was one of the basketball players for the college. He rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m really sorry Coach...someone forgot to shut the door to the concessions stand, and like half of the cold drinks are gone.” Coach Faulkner rolled his eyes. “Perfect. Ok, Bradford, I’ve got to go deal with this.” Cheyenne nodded at him as Coach Faulkner left his office. Cheyenne waited for about five minutes, and when she was sure he wasn’t coming back, she began to snoop. But unfortunately, she didn’t find anything.

Cheyenne was in her dorm room when she heard a knock at the door. She was hit by a wave of nasuea, as she dreaded who might be at the door. She silently padded to the door and looked through the peephole. Her shoulders sagged with relief when she saw it was Grayson. He knocked again as she opened the door. He quickly glanced around making sure no one saw him enter her room when she shut the door. Grayson frowned down at her. “Why the hell didn’t you return my texts?” Cheyenne frowned back at him. “What?” Grayson rolled his eyes and stalked over to her bed where he saw her cell phone. He shoved it into her hands as Cheyenne winced as she saw all of his messages that she had missed. “I’m sorry, Gray. I was snooping in Coach’s office, and then I came back here, and I was busy studying…” Grayson huffed in frustration as he stalked away from her shaking his head. Cheyenne frowned at him. “What’s your problem?” Grayson glared at her. “My problem is I’m supposed to be your backup. I can’t exactly do that if I have no fucking clue where you are.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Grayson! I promise it won’t happen again.” Grayson nodded, as he tried to calm down. “Ok...just remember to check in, ok?” Cheyenne quickly nodded. Grayson glanced around her dorm room before he looked back at her. “Did you find anything in his office?” Cheyenne shook her head, frustrated. “No. Nothing, and I looked everywhere. He had a long practice today, and had to deal with a problem in the concessions stand, and never came back to his office. But I have an idea…” Grayson raised his eyebrows at her in a silent question. “I told him I still can’t practice for a few days. So, while he’s at practice, I’m going to go to his house and snoop…” Grayson shook his head, cutting her off. “No, absolutely not.” Cheyenne glared at him. “Why not? Grayson he’s not stupid enough to keep proof of anything in his office! If there’s any proof anywhere it’s probably at his house!” Grayson rolled his eyes. “You might be right, you’re still not going.” Cheyenne stalked up to him, and glared at him. “Give me one good reason why!” Grayson glared back at her. “I’ll give you a bunch of good reasons and you can choose one. 1. You’re not a cop. 2. You have no way of knowing if he’ll just happen to show up at his house or not while you’re there. 3. Unless he’s given you permission to be in his house when he’s not there, that’s called breaking and entering, and anything you might find may or may not be admissible in a court of law. 4. It’s too damn dangerous. And 5. I said no.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes again. “You’re not my boss or my dad, and besides that, he’s already invited me to his house!” Grayson glared at her as he put his hands on his hips. “And when the hell did this happen?” Cheyenne sighed as she looked down at her hands. “Today, while I was in his office, before practice.” Grayson stepped closer to her. “Did he touch you, Cheyenne?” Cheyenne looked back at Grayson and was shocked at the intensity she saw in his eyes. Her voice was soft as she answered him. “No...no, he didn’t. I mean he hugged me, but that was all.” Grayson closed his eyes. “I ought to wring your damn neck, Chey. You never even told me you were in his office. What if something happened? I was clear across campus trying to find you when you were apparently alone with your Coach! Your dad would kill me if he found out about this.” Cheyenne frowned at Grayson. “He’s not going to find out, because you aren’t going to tell him! And neither am I.” Grayson shook his head, as Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “Gray...there are times I’ll have to be alone with him. I can handle it.” Grayson looked at her and saw that she definitely could handle it...he just didn’t know if he could. 

Two days passed, and the investigation hadn’t revealed a damn thing. Everyone was frustrated, and Tim and Lucy’s nerves were shot. Cheyenne had done a great job of getting close to her Coach again, but she hadn’t found anything incriminating against him yet. Unfortunately everything was about to change. Cheyenne was sitting in her Coach’s office, frowning in concern. He had stormed out when one of the players had brought a message to him. He had told Cheyenne to wait in his office...but that had been an hour ago, and he still wasn’t back yet. Cheyenne left his office finally and was headed back to her dorm room when she bumped into one of her teammates, Carly on her way out of the gym. Carly’s eyes were red and swollen from crying. Cheyenne grabbed Carly by the shoulders. “Carly! What’s wrong? What’s happened?” Carly sobbed as she barely got the words out. “You haven’t heard? Oh, Cheyenne, it’s awful!” Carly buried her face in her hands as Cheyenne frantically glanced around. What the hell was going on? Cheyenne gently pulled Carly’s hands away from her face. “Carly...what happened?” Carly hiccuped as she struggled to get control of herself. “It’s Ashley...they found her in her dorm room.” Cheyenne’s eyes went wide with fear as Carly told her what happened. “She overdosed. There was a note on her desk...something about how she couldn’t let anyone find out what happened to her. Something about Coach.” Cheyenne felt the guilt swamp her as she took off, sprinting to her dorm room, leaving Carly standing there crying. 

Cheyenne ran to her dorm room and unlocked the door. She trudged inside and slammed and locked the door before she collapsed to the ground. She bent her legs and her head fell forward onto her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She sobbed as the guilt overwhelmed her. “Damnit Ashley...I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Oh, Ash, I’m so, so sorry. I was only trying to help!” After what seemed like hours, Cheyenne finally stood up and glared around her dorm room. She was done. She’d been trying to do the right thing, and it had ended up killing her teammate. Cheyenne shook her head and angrily wiped her tears away. She prepared to do the only thing she knew to do when life got too hard...she was going to run. She grabbed a bag out of her closet and began stuffing it with her clothes. She saw her cell phone light up and vibrate telling her she had a text message. She checked who it was from...Grayson, of course. She rolled her eyes and ignored it as she continued to pack. She was about to change out of her practice uniform when she heard someone pounding on her door. She sighed as she walked to the door. She knew who it was without even checking. She unlocked the door and opened it to a frowning Grayson. He glared at her. “I thought we talked about this.” Cheyenne started to shut the door when Grayson stuck his arm out. He frowned at her as she looked away. “Cheyenne...what’s wrong? What happened?” Grayson walked into her room as she shut the door. “Just leave me alone Grayson.” Cheyenne went to her closet and that’s when he noticed her bag on her bed. He stalked over to her and turned her around. “What the hell are you doing, Cheyenne?” Cheyenne glared at him as she jerked her arms out of his grasp. “Nothing! Get out of my room!” Cheyenne turned her back on him, but not before he caught the desperate look in her eyes and saw the tears. He gently turned her back around. “Chey...talk to me. What’s happened?” Cheyenne wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she tried to hold back the tears. She shook her head as she looked away. “One of my teammates...Ashley, the one I told you about. She overdosed tonight. They found a note...it said she couldn’t handle anyone finding out about what happened to her.” Grayson swore as he pulled a sobbing Cheyenne into his arms. “Ah hell, Chey, I’m sorry baby.” Cheyenne angrily shoved Grayson away from her as she went back to her closet. “Don’t tell me that...tell Ashley that. It’s my fault. If I’d never said anything and just stayed quiet she’d still be alive right now. It’s my fault!” Cheyenne threw the clothes she’d just pulled out of her closet onto the floor. She slammed the closet door and started pounding it with her fist. Grayson went to her and gently turned her around and pulled her into his arms as she continued to fight him. “It’s not your fault Chey...it’s Faulkner’s fault. This isn’t your fault!” Cheyenne pulled out of Grayson’s arms and went to look out her window. She stared out of it but didn’t see anything. “It’s my fault. Please go Grayson, I want to be alone.” Grayson frowned at her as he looked at her bed. “Like hell...you’re getting ready to bail, aren’t you?” Cheyenne turned around and glared at him. He glared right back at her. “You’re going to run again, aren’t you?” Cheyenne couldn’t lie to Grayson, so she just stayed silent. “Cheyenne, you can’t do that!” Cheyenne rolled her eyes at him as she went around her dorm room gathering up what she wanted to take with her. “Sure, I can, I’m good at it.” Grayson shook his head as he watched her. “So you’re going to leave...just like that. You’re going to run out on your dad and mumsy?” Cheyenne shrugged her shoulders. “They were fine without me...they’ll be fine after I’m gone.” Grayson stepped to her. “You’re going to run out on me too?” Cheyenne looked at him then and sighed. Before she could say anything, Grayson grabbed her arms. “Cheyenne...think about what you’re doing. This case depends on you. This whole thing will fall apart without you...think of all the other girls, girls just like you, that are depending on you. You’re the only one that can stop Faulkner! You can’t just run out on everyone!” 

Cheyenne sat down heavily on her bed as Grayson sat next to her. He looked at her as Cheyenne closed her eyes. “Chey...I know this isn’t fair. It’s not fair to have such a heavy burden dropped on your shoulders. You should be out having fun with your friends and celebrating winning your games and eating junk food in late night study groups. I know none of this is fair. But this is the hand you got dealt...fair or not, you have to play it.” Cheyenne sobbed as Grayson pulled her into his side. “You’re strong enough to handle this, Cheyenne. You can do it, I know you can. You’re one of the strongest people I know...you’re definitely stronger than me.” Cheyenne saw her phone light up again and saw that Tim was calling her. She sighed as she went to her phone and answered it. “Hi dad...yeah, I’m ok. Can I call you back in a little bit? Ten minutes? Ok. Love you.” Cheyenne disconnected the call and looked at Grayson. Something felt different between them and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Grayson watched her as Cheyenne came to stand in front of him. Grayson stood up and looked intently at her. Cheyenne stepped closer to him. “Would you really be upset if I left, Gray?” Grayson slowly nodded. He tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear as he sighed. “Weird or not, you’re one of my best friends Chey. Yeah, it would hurt, a lot, if you bailed.” Cheyenne nodded as she looked down at her feet and closed her eyes. She knew she couldn’t leave...she couldn’t leave her dad or mumsy, and she definitely couldn’t leave Grayson. And she also knew she had a fight to finish...for Ashley, and herself, and all the other girls like her. Grayson sighed as he tipped her chin up and looked at her. “Well?” In answer to his question, Cheyenne bent over her bed and grabbed her bag and began unpacking it. Grayson’s shoulders sagged with relief as Cheyenne put her things away and put her bag back in the closet. Grayson looked at her as she turned around. “Do you want me to stay? I can hang out for a while if you want me to.” Cheyenne shook her head. “No...but thanks, Gray. I’m ok.” She went to grayson and pulled him into a hard hug. Grayson closed his eyes and tightened his arms around her, before releasing her. He cupped her cheek as he looked at her, concerned. “You sure you’re ok?” Cheyenne nodded. “Yeah, I’m ok. I have some studying to do, and I need to turn in a paper.” Grayson nodded, though a tiny voice in his head was telling him to stay, but he ignored it. “Ok...I’m headed home. Call me if you need anything at all, Cheyenne, I mean it, no matter what time it is.” Cheyenne nodded as she walked him to the door. “I’m ok, Gray, I promise. I’ll see you in the morning.” Grayson walked out of her room, and turned around as Cheyenne shut the door. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she was lying to him about something.

Cheyenne turned in her paper, but she didn’t study. She called her dad back and told him about Ashley. He and Lucy had begged Cheyenne to come home, but she declined and promised to call them in the morning. Cheyenne looked at her phone and saw what time it was. She knew her Coach was in an athletic department meeting. It was 7pm, and the meeting wouldn’t be over for another hour or so. Her coach lived close to campus, so Cheyenne figured that would be enough time. She left her dorm room and quickly walked to the front entrance. She glanced around, but didn’t see Grayson or any of the other cops that were working her case. Cheyenne headed off into the night, headed for her Coach’s house. She knew if there was any proof of his crimes anywhere, it would be hidden somewhere in his house, and she was going to get it...for Ashley, for her, and for all the other girls her coach had violated.


	8. Gut Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheyenne goes with her gut, and goes to Coach Faulkner's house alone despite telling Grayson she wouldn't, determined to get to the truth. Grayson goes with his gut, knowing Cheyenne has taken matters into her own hands, and tries to get to her before it's too late. Tim calls in a favor, and it's all hands on deck as the team races to save Cheyenne, before she confronts the monster, alone.

The entire drive back to his house Grayson was swamped with a bad feeling, and it got worse and worse and worse the further he got from Cheyenne’s college. He began to realize that he was losing his objectivity when it came to Cheyenne, the same way Tim was. Finally he shook himself and snapped himself out of it. “For Christ sake Wells, you’re a damn cop. Always go with your gut, remember? Didn’t you learn anything in the academy?” After he finished yelling at himself, out loud, he pulled over to the side of the road and parked, turning on his hazard lights, and called Cheyenne...but he didn’t get an answer. Then he called Lucy...and also got no answer. Finally he called Tim, and much to Grayson’s relief, Tim answered his phone on the first ring. “Wells...what’s up?” Grayson closed his eyes...he’d worry about the wrath of Tim Bradford later. Grayson sighed into the phone. “Please tell me you’ve talked to Cheyenne in the last ten minutes or so.” Tim frowned...and immediately knew something was wrong. “No, I haven’t. I was just about to call her actually.” Grayson swore as he shift his car into drive and floored it back onto the road. He barked out instructions to Tim before disconnecting the call, and focused on driving. He had to get to Cheyenne before it was too late.

Lucy was just stepping out of the shower when Tim came running into the bathroom. “Get dressed Boot. You’ve got two minutes. We have to find Cheyenne, now!” Lucy didn’t even ask questions, just dropped the towel she was wearing and raced into the bedroom with Tim. They were walking out their front door in less than five minutes. Tim frantically pulled out his cell phone and called his boss, who answered on the third ring. Sgt. Grey sounded less than pleased to be disturbed. “This better be important, Bradford.” Tim closed his eyes as he tried to retain control. “Yes sir, it is. I need a favor. I need every one who's available, to back me up on a welfare check on Cheyenne...only, I don’t know where I need them just yet.” Sgt. Grey was in bed with Monica, as he sat up frowning. “Tim...what’s happened?” Tim explained the situation as Sgt. Grey jumped out of bed. Monica followed suit, and soon, word had spread like wildfire that Cheyenne was missing. Everyone from Monica’s FBI friends to off duty LAPD cops dropped what they were doing, and rushed into the night to find the daughter of two of the most beloved cops in the LAPD. 

Cheyenne had parked her car two blocks from her Coach’s house, and got out. She was dressed in her workout gear, so to anyone who noticed, she was just someone going for a late evening jog in one of the neighborhoods close to the campus. Cheyenne knew which house belonged to her coach...she’d been there before several times, with her team. Looking back on it now, she realized that’s probably when he would scope out his next victims, by hosting team bonding get togethers at his house. She ran down the street, until she came to his house. She glanced quickly around, but didn’t see anyone, and she quickly ran into his yard. She ran to the back of the house that was shielded from the neighbors by a fence and trees. She glanced around again but still didn’t see anyone, and tried all the windows until she found one that easily opened. She climbed inside and took a deep breath. There was no turning back now.

Grayson had googled the coach and had easily come up with the Coach’s address. He texted the address to Tim, who texted it out to everyone. Grayson prayed as he floored it to the address that he got there in time. He berated himself as he broke pretty much every traffic law on the books...he never should have left Cheyenne alone. He knew he shouldn’t have. And because he had she might wind up paying for it with her life.

Cheyenne frowned as she headed upstairs. She had checked as quickly as she dared all the rooms downstairs and had come up empty. But she knew, she could feel it in her gut, that somewhere in this house was proof of what Coach Faulkner had done to so many of his players, both past and present. The man liked to document everything...so she knew the proof was somewhere. Cheyenne came to his bedroom and froze. The thought of entering his bedroom made her want to vomit...but she knew she had to do it. She walked in and started looking around...she tore the bedding up, looked under the mattress, looked in some books he had on the nightstand, looked in the nightstand, looked in his dresser and chest of drawers and still nothing. She glared around the room...she KNEW it was here somewhere, and she was running out of time! She padded across the bedroom when she froze. She cocked her head and listened as she walked back and forth over the same spot in the floor...the floor was making a weird creaking sound. She dropped to her knees, and shoved the rug out of the way. She knocked on the floor and excitedly gasped as she heard a hollow sound in the floor. She felt around with her fingers until she found a loose section of the flooring, and gently lifted a small section of the floor up. She whipped out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight on the phone and shined it into the hole in the floor. She found two small weather proof duffle bags and frowned at them. Obviously Coach had hidden these...so they must be of some valuable. She unzipped one of the bags and stared in shock at what looked like dozens of flash drives. Her stomach lurched when she thought of what was probably on those flash drives. She pulled both of the bags out of the floor when she heard the front door close. She frantically looked towards the bedroom door, and was suddenly ice cold from the fear racing through her veins.

Grayson slammed on the breaks when he spotted Cheyenne’s car. He frowned as he parked in front of it. This wasn’t the street her coach lived on, so what the hell was Cheyenne’s car doing here? Grayson quickly got out of his car and went to peek inside Cheyenne’s car. She wasn’t inside it. He glanced around but didn’t see her. He pulled out his phone again and googled the distance from the address he was at to the address of her coach. According to google maps, her coach’s house was two streets down. Grayson started to get back in his car, but stopped. Maybe Cheyenne had parked here so she wouldn’t alert her Coach that she was at the house. Deciding that’s what she had done, Grayson left his car where it was and sprinted down the street. 

Tim, Lucy, Sgt. Grey, Monica, Monica’s partner Brooks, John, Angela, Nyla, Jase, and Jackson, and several others had converged at a gas station that was close to Cheyenne’s college. Sgt. Grey frowned at Tim. “Ok Bradford...you dragged us out here, what the hell’s going on?” Tim rubbed his face with his hands and sighed. “I don’t exactly know...but, I think, Cheyenne’s gone to her Coach’s house, alone. She said something to Wells about the fact that nothing incriminating has been found at the college concerning the allegations against him, and that she thought the next best place to look would be his house.” Monica rolled her eyes. “Good thinking...so why the hell is a seventeen year old college volleyball player on this instead of I don’t know, any of us?” Tim glared at her. “Because the only person she mentioned this to was Wells. He thought he had talked her out of going there by herself to check it out...but no one can reach her.” Monica sighed as she read Tim’s mind. “And so Wells has gone after her himself.” Lucy was quick to defend her partner. “No, not by himself. He alerted Tim and me to the situation. He had just left the campus when he called Tim, so he was already in the area.” Jase clapped his hands together. “So what the hell are we waiting for?” Everyone ran back to their vehicles and sped off to Coach Faulkner’s house.

Coach Faulkner had just come inside his house and closed and locked the door. He sighed as he dropped his keys on the table by the front door, and dropped his gym bag. He shook his head...damn Ashley. Her overdose was no doubt going to be investigated. Maybe it was time to move on...but on the bright side she hadn’t named him in the letter that had been found in her room, she’d just said ‘coach.’ That could have referred to any of the coaches on staff not specifically him. At least he had Cheyenne calmed down again...or so he thought. But something about that whole situation continued to bug him. He and Cheyenne had had a pretty bad fight...and she was suddenly ok with everything again? He wasn’t sure he totally believed her. He started to walk into the kitchen, but stopped. Something felt off to him suddenly. He glanced around the downstairs, but all looked normal. He went to his front door and unlocked and opened it and looked outside, but didn’t see anything unusual. He shut the door and locked it again. He wandered around the first floor of his house, slowly looking at everything, but everything seemed normal...so why was he convinced it wasn’t? 

Cheyenne was trying to be as quiet as a mouse and was trying to put the section of flooring back into place. She slowly, carefully, inch by inch lowered the wood back into the hole. She almost had it when it slipped from her fingers, and dropped back into place, making a soft sound...unfortunately, the sound was just loud enough for Coach Faulkner to hear.

Coach Faulkner was looking out the window when he heard the soft thud coming from upstairs. He swore, rushing to the stairs, and raced up them. Cheyenne grabbed the small bags and threw them over her shoulder as she raced to the window. She quickly raised the window and climbed out of it onto the roof. She glanced back over her shoulder in time to see the murderous look on Coach Faulkner’s face. “Cheyenne!” Cheyenne quickly turned and was weighing her options when she slipped and fell and began rolling off the roof. “No” Cheyenne screamed as she fell to the ground.

Grayson heard her scream and turned on the speed as he rounded the corner, and finally made it to the street Coach Faulkner lived on. He sprinted towards the sound as fast as he could. Hold on, Chey, just hold on, I’m coming.

Cheyenne had not fallen far, but she had landed on her back in the yard, and it had knocked the wind out of her. She laid there, feeling the pain rush through her as her lungs tried to fill with air. She gasped several times as she tried to take a breath, and it hurt so freaking bad. Coach Faulkner rushed out his front door just as Grayson came sprinting into his yard. Coach Faulkner reached Cheyenne first and jerked her to her feet, and held a knife to her throat. Grayson stopped where he was and whipped out his service weapon and held it on them. “Let her go!” Cheyenne was still wheezing and couldn’t breathe as Coach Faulkner held the knife to her throat. He glared at Cheyenne. “I knew you were just like the others!” Cheyenne screamed as she latched onto Coach Faulkner’s arm with both hands and desperately tried to pull the knife away from her throat. 

Just then, more than a dozen cars and trucks screeched to a stop in front of Coach Faulkner’s house. Coach Faulkner’s face fell as he saw over a dozen people pointing weapons at him. Grayson was the closest to him, and glared at him. “It’s over Faulkner. Let her go! Don’t make this any worse on yourself!” Grayson was slowly advancing on him as Coach Faulkner yanked hard on Cheyenne’s neck causing her to wince in pain. “Back off! I’ll slice her wide open if you don’t back the fuck off!” Monica glanced at her partner. “I don’t have a shot.” Brooks side eyed her in return. “I don’t think any of us do.” 

Tim and Lucy were the last to arrive and quickly realized their only option. Tim backed his truck up out of sight of the house. Lucy nodded at him as they hopped out of the truck. “We have to approach him from behind, Boot.” Lucy nodded as they sprinted down the street that faced the back of Coach Faulkner’s house. “Don’t worry babe, Grayson can keep his distracted long enough for us to make our move.” Tim prayed she was right; Lucy knew she was right.

Grayson looked at Cheyenne, and saw the absolute terror in her eyes. He holstered his weapon then, making Cheyenne’s eyes go wide with shock. He held his hands up as he looked at Coach Faulkner. “Look...I put my gun away Faulkner. I’m not a threat to you. Cheyenne isn’t a threat to you...she’s one of your best players. She still has a long volleyball carer ahead of her. You don’t want to mess that up for her do you?” Coach Faulkner let out a bitter laugh. “What the fuck do I care about that? I’m done as Coach. We both know that. Who the fuck cares if she plays again?” Grayson controlled his simmering rage. “Faulkner...right now, you still have a shot at a life. You haven’t killed anyone yet. Let her go, and keep that shot at having a life one day. Because I promise you, if you even put one scratch on her, everyone behind me training their weapons on you will drop you where you stand. You got nowhere to go.” Grayson saw Lucy and Tim creeping up behind Coach Faulkner and Cheyenne and knew he had to keep him distracted. Grayson kept talking. “Don’t make this any worse for her, or for yourself Faulkner. If you let her go now, there’s still the possibility you can work out a deal.” Coach Faulkner just laughed again. “Yeah, right. There’s no deal.” He started to whisper to Cheyenne as he started dragging her back towards the house. “I should have known it would be you Cheyenne. I should have known you would be the one.” 

Tim was directly behind Coach Faulkner now, and pressed the barrel of his gun, already cocked to the back of Coach Faulkner’s head, as Lucy pressed the barrel of her gun, also already cocked, to his left temple. Tim’s voice was deadly as it came out. “Drop the knife and let her go before your brains are all over your front yard.” Coach Faulkner tightened his grip on Cheyenne as Tim pressed the barrel of his gun harder into the coach’s head. “I’m not asking again.” Lucy kept the barrel of her gun pressed firmly against his temple. “Last warning. Let her go, now!” Coach Faulkner knew it was over...and as evil as he was, he just couldn’t bring himself to kill. He sighed as he dropped the knife and Cheyenne bolted away from him. Grayson caught her as they both fell to the ground. Cheyenne was shaking like a leaf, as Tim and Lucy pinned Coach Faulkner’s hands behind his back. Monica walked up with a set of cuffs and handed them to Tim. She got right in Coach Faulkner’s face. “What’s in the bags, Coach?” But Coach Faulkner stared stonily at her, not saying a word. Monica rolled her eyes at him as Tim and Lucy hauled him to the only official vehicle that was there, which was Brooks’ FBI vehicle. 

Grayson tried to control his emotions as he held Cheyenne and rocked her. “You are in so much fucking trouble.” Tim crouched down beside them and glared at her. “You got that right. But we’ll yell at her later.” He hauled Cheyenne into his arms, and closed his eyes, thankful that once again, Cheyenne had gone up against a monster...and won.


	9. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheyenne, Grayson, Tim and Lucy deal with the aftermath of Coach Faulkner and everything he did. Grayson and Cheyenne venture into new territory as their friendship deepens.

The flash drives that Cheyenne had recovered from Coach Faulkner’s house had hundreds and hundreds of pictures and videos on them. In all he had raped a total of 25 girls that he had coached in volleyball. Cheyenne had been his youngest victim, although the charge against him in her case would only be attempted rape. Even so, he was looking at a long, long time in prison. The college had claimed they had no prior knowledge of Coach Faulkner’s activities, and upon learning what he had done he was immediately fired. The assistant coach, Amanda Norwood, was promoted to head coach, much to the delight of the entire team. The team adored her, and Cheyenne knew Coach Norwood would be a great head coach. The media had swarmed when they had gotten wind of the Coach Faulkner and his crimes, but everyone had rallied around Cheyenne, and her team, to protect them from the more aggressive reporters.

Sgt. Grey sat in his office two weeks later smiling at Cheyenne, Tim and Lucy. “Young lady...while I don’t condone you going off by yourself like that, which seems to be a habit that runs in your family…” He pointedly looked at Tim and Lucy before continuing...”you are incredibly brave. I have to tell you Cheyenne, you will have a very bright future here with the LAPD, if you still want to go into law enforcement someday.” Cheyenne nodded her head excitedly as Tim groaned. “That’s great and all...but can you maybe not play supercop for the next couple of years or so? I’m not sure my nerves can take much more of this.” Cheyenne and Lucy laughed as Sgt. Grey smiled broadly at them. 

Later that night, Tim and Lucy were out on a date, and Cheyenne didn’t want to be by herself, and didn’t want to go back to campus just yet. Grayson had just gotten home from a long shift of overtime. He was exhausted, because it had been one hell of a shift. He’d dealt with two attempted suicides, several footchases, and at the very end of shift, pulled a couple over for speeding, who were on their way to the hospital, and Grayson had wound up delivering the woman’s baby right there on the side of the road ad they waited for an ambulance. He had been partnered with his ex, Officer Ruthie Grace, as Lucy had taken some time off to help Cheyenne cope with the trauma of what had happened to her. Grayson was exhausted, he was starving, and he was in desperate need of a shower. He parked in his driveway and frowned...Cheyenne’s car was in his driveway, but she was nowhere to be seen. He immediately went on alert as he got out of his car and frantically glanced around. He didn’t see her anywhere. He pulled out his cell phone and called her, but she didn’t answer. Frowning, he quickly walked to his front door and unlocked it. He shoved it open, and dropped his stuff on the floor, preparing to go back outside and look for her...and froze. There was Cheyenne, in his kitchen, dancing with Sheeba to the sounds of Maroon 5, while she sipped on a coke. Grayson was too tired to deal with whatever was now going on so he simply shut the front door and locked it and trudged to his bedroom. He shut the door and went to his connecting bathroom. He stripped and took a long, hot shower, wondering what the hell Cheyenne was doing here. Well, at least she wasn’t hurt this time...hopefully. He was glad to see her, and glad she was recovering well.

Twenty minutes later, he emerged from his bedroom and went to his kitchen. Cheyenne turned and sent him a bright smile. Grayson couldn’t help but smile at her in return as Sheeba bounded over to him. It was then he noticed the huge pizza box from his favorite pizza joint sitting on the kitchen table. He gave Sheeba a pat as he glanced at Cheyenne. “What’s all this? You ok, Chey?” Cheyenne rolled her eyes as she handed him a plate. “I’m fine. And this is a thanks for saving my ass, and a thanks for not killing me when I…” Grayson frowned at her. “You mean thanks for not wringing your fool neck when you went off alone, without telling anyone where the hell you were going, trying to play cop?” Cheyenne sighed as she nodded. “Yeah...something like that. I’m sorry, Grayson.” He sighed as he went over to her and hugged her. “I know...and it’s ok. Because I’m sure this won’t be the last time you do something I tell you not to do.” Cheyenne laughed at that. “You’re probably right about that.” Grayson rolled his eyes as he picked up the pizza box. “I’m exhausted, and starving, so let’s go eat this on the couch.” Cheyenne nodded and followed him, holding two cokes, with Sheeba bounding happily after them as she smelled her favorite food. Grayson looked at Cheyenne as he swallowed his third slice of pizza. “I owe you an apology to Chey...I get why you did what you did. I’d have probably done the same thing for Hannah...if I’d been able to. And I know you’re mostly a good, responsible…” Cheyenne rolled her eyes at him, interrupting him. “I’m not a kid.” Grayson laughed at her. “Nope...apparently you aren’t. You’re a very strong, brave young lady. But Chey...enjoy this time in your life right now, ok? You don’t have to run off and save the world just yet. You’ll get to do that soon enough.” Cheyenne grinned at him as she dug into another slice of pizza.

After they had stuffed themselves on pizza and Grayson had told her about his shift, he leaned back into the couch and closed his eyes. Then he turned his head and looked at her. “So, what are you going to do now, Chey?” Cheyenne frowned at him. “What are you talking about? Dude, I’m not dropping out of college or quitting the team if that’s what you’re worried about.” Grayson tiredly smiled at her. “I’m glad to hear that...ok, maybe I was worried about it, a little.” Cheyenne shook her head. “Well, don’t. I’m not a quitter.” Grayson laughed at that, and then frowned at her as he suddenly thought of something. “How did you get in here?” Cheyenne smiled at him. “Climbed through the window.” Grayson rolled his eyes at her. “That’s called breaking and entering.” Cheyenne smirked at him. “Technically it’s entering, I didn’t break anything.” Grayson sighed and closed his eyes. “Actually you did break something...the law.” Cheyenne watched him as he dozed off and laughed at him. She pulled her laptop out of her backpack and started working on homework as she finished her slice of pizza. Four hours later, Cheyenne had finished her homework, and had written two papers. She put her laptop away and carried the leftover pizza back into the kitchen and put it in the fridge. She took Sheeba out one last time to do her business before bedtime, and looked up at the stars. She still missed Ashley so much, and knew she always would, but just like always, Cheyenne had survived, and come through another hard experience stronger than ever. She took Sheeba back inside and draped a blanket over Grayson, which startled him awake. He yawned as he looked at her. “What time is it?” Cheyenne laughed at him. “It’s almost midnight, and dad’s already texted me three times. I have to get home.” Grayson frowned at that. “You don’t need to be driving anywhere this late by yourself.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “I’ll be fine.” Grayson frowned at her. “Last time you said that to me, you definitely weren’t fine.” Cheyenne smiled at him. “I’ll text you when I get home, ok?” Grayson sighed as he nodded. He stood up and yawned and stretched. “I’ll walk you to you car, c’mon.” Cheyenne rolled her eyes. “I’m parked in your driveway...it’s safe.” He glared at Cheyenne. “You argue with me as much as Chen does...it’s annoying.” He followed her out to her car, enjoying the light breeze in the night air. Cheyenne opened her car and tossed her backpack inside. She turned around and looked at Grayson, who was staring at her. They both stared a little too long as Grayson sighed, reading her thoughts which were similar to his own. “Chey...we can’t.” Cheyenne took a deep breath and nodded. “I know.” She smirked at him then. “But….maybe one day.” Grayson couldn’t help but smile at her. “Oh...definitely. Text me when you get home. And next time, just tell me you want to come over, you don’t have to break into my damn house. And I don’t like mushrooms on my pizza.” She climbed inside her car and fastened her seat belt as he shut her car door. She smiled and waved at him as she pulled out of his driveway and headed home. Grayson watched her drive away, and texted Tim that Cheyenne was on her way home. 

Tim got Grayson’s text, and was suddenly immensely relieved...sort of. It was beginning to bother him how close Cheyenne was with Grayson. But Grayson had never been inappropriate with her and Tim knew he never would be. He climbed into bed next to Lucy who snuggled into his arms. “Chey on her way home?” Tim nodded and sighed as he tried not to roll his eyes. “She was at Grayson’s.” Lucy smiled and nodded. “I know...she told me she was going over there to apologize to him.” Tim frowned at that. “Apologize for what?” Lucy snuggled deeper into Tim’s arms. “For lying to him, and for giving him a nervous breakdown when she took off on her own to face Faulkner. Grayson called her out on that and she promised him she wouldn’t do it...then she did it anyway. It gave him a bad moment.” Lucy poked him in the ribs then, making Tim flinch. “Cheyenne seems to be a lot like you, Tim Bradford, in many ways.” Tim couldn’t help but smile at that. “I was thinking she’s more like you, Boot.” He rolled on top of her then as she laughed and kissed her deeply. Lucy sighed as Tim eased back. “We have about twenty minutes before she gets here.” Lucy smiled as she leaned up and planted a deep, wet kiss on Tim’s mouth. He moaned as he ran his hand possessively down her body, before reaching between her legs. He hummed into her mouth. “You’re already so wet baby…” Lucy rolled her hips against his hand and he groaned. He kissed her roughly then, shoving his tongue deep into her mouth as he readjusted himself on top of her. He was already so hard for her, and Lucy wrapped her legs around his waist, begging him to enter her. Before she knew it, Tim was deep inside her. They set a slow, rhythmic pace as he drove deeper and deeper into her. Lucy threw her head back as Tim began to go faster and harder into her. He dove back onto her mouth as he felt her tighten herself around him. They moaned together as they came together. They were both covered in sweat and Tim collapsed on top of her. He rested his brow against hers as he caught his breath. “Damn, Luce…” Lucy smiled back at him as she tried to slow her breathing down. “Eloquent pillow talk, babe.” He laughed at her as he nipped her bottom lip. They heard the front door slam, and Tim smiled at her. “Perfect timing.” They heard Cheyenne call out goodnight to them as they answered her. Tim rolled over and neither he nor Lucy had the strength to get out of bed, so they snuggled together in each other’s arms, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Cheyenne went into her bedroom and dropped her bookbag in a chair by the bed. She went into her connecting bathroom, stripped, and took a quick shower. As she was brushing her teeth her cell phone signaled she had a text message, and she realized she’d forgotten to let Grayson know she was home. Before she could text him her phone rang. She rolled her eyes as she picked it up and answered it. Grayson’s voice came through, clearly annoyed and concerned. “Where are you? I can be there in fifteen.” Cheyenne laughed and Grayson frowned as her voice sounded garbled. “I’m home...I forgot to text you, I’m sorry. I’m brushing my teeth.” Grayson flopped back onto his bed...God forbid he ever have any daughters or he’d be a nervous wreck every second of every day. He sighed as Sheeba laid her head in his lap. “So, you’re ok?” Cheyenne smiled as she climbed into her bed. “Yes, Grayson, I’m fine. Thanks for checking on me.” He sighed as he felt his eyes getting heavy. “I wouldn’t have to check on you if you would just do what you’re told. Sweet dreams.” He disconnected the call and turned off the lamp besides his bed. For the first time in a while, he drifted off into a restful, easy sleep.

THE END


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